The Will of the Force - A Bounty Hunter's Tale
by FuzzyBeta
Summary: Una Crest was a bounty hunter who just wanted to earn enough credits to settle down somewhere safe and quiet. But the Force seems to have other plans for her. Plans in the form of a Trade Federation Blockade, two maverick Jedi, the sith, galactic politics and a strange little boy on a desert planet. Just what did she do to deserve all this trouble? (Currently Episode I) Rated T.
1. Prologue

_A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…_

 ** _STAR WARS_**

 ** _Episode I - The Phantom Menace_**

Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.

Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly battleships, the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping to the small planet of Naboo.

While the Congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of the peace and justice in the galaxy, to settle the conflict.

But they are not alone. A lone Bounty Hunter desperately searches for a way off the Trade Federation's main space station, unknowingly changing the destiny of not just others, but the entire GALAXY in the process...


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 – Double Crossed**

The little girl stared up at the shadow that towered over her.

He was a tall Deveronian, with coppery red skin, a pointed face and two large dark horns sticking out of his bald head that cast an eerie shadow in the dim light of the warehouse. His yellow eyes were surprised as they beheld the child half hidden behind the crate.

She was a small little human, thin and dressed all in grey rags. She stared up at the blaster he aimed at her face with wide eyes, half hidden behind grimy dark hair and a filth covered face.

"Well, this is unexpected" The deveronian said, and despite his frightening features his voice was gentle as he chuckled softly and lowered his blaster. "What are you doing here little one?"

The girl shrank away.

"Now don't be like that kiddo. I may look like a demon but I don't bite I promise." he held out his hand towards her.

She didn't move. She just stared up at him fearfully, clutching in terror at her stomach as it gave an audible warble.

"Hungry are you?" The Deveronian sighed and rummaged around in his pocket. "Here"

He unwrapped the small nutrition bar and held it out for her in the palm of his hand.

For the first time since he saw her the girl leaned forwards in his direction, her gaze suddenly fixing itself on the bar of food. She reached out timidly, and the alien noticed her small fingers were dangerously thin as they wrapped around her prize. Upon catching sight of his suddenly grim expression, the girl snatched the nutrition bar out of his hands and scuttled backwards.

"Hey wait-" But too late, the girl was gone.

* * *

She winced as she opened her eyes.

 _Just a dream…nothing more. Ouch!_

She rubbed her throbbing head, as she blinked up at the ceiling of her cell.

It was blank and black, but she didn't really care. She was too busy berating herself for her stupidity.

Though she may have been young by the standards of her chosen (for lack of a better word) _profession_ she still should've known that this job was too good to be true.

Neimoidians were notoriously stingy with their money. And this lot of spineless wimps from the Trade Federation were no exception. Indeed, they set the prime example.

They wouldn't have willingly paid for something as trivial as the hit they'd hired her for. Especially if they could simply dispose of her afterwards with their droids…or arrange to put a slave's transmitter chip in her body as they were planning.

Whilst slavery was illegal in this part of the galaxy, this bunch of Neimoidians were certainly keen on the idea. After all, why waste your precious money paying for services when you have a slave do it for free? Especially if the slave was a highly trained bounty hunter.

Like Una Crest.

She looked down at herself, smirking as she felt around her person. The stupid droids that had dragged her unconscious body down here had forgotten to take away her small military grade hold-out blaster from its back holster. In fact, most of her gear was still on her, except for her larger rifle and standard blaster. Even her small vibro-blade was tucked neatly in the inside pocket of her hooded dark red jacket.

Obviously, they'd thought the knock out drug they'd injected into her would keep her sedated while their even dumber alien leaders, bumbled around searching for a satisfactory slave chip to insert into her body.

Whilst Una, didn't usually care much about race or species, she did have to admit, she was growing to hate this group of aliens with each passing minute.

They were, to put it simply, just plain pathetic, and that was saying a lot as she'd met some wretched characters in her less than savoury line of work.

And yet she'd let them capture her.

She supposed this was the universe's way of getting back at her for her own stupidity.

 _Slyde would have my head if he knew what I'd gotten myself into._

She mused to herself glumly as she glanced at the door of her cell. Outside it she could hear the two stick-like droids speaking robotically into the corridor as they delivered an update on her condition.

She frowned a little as she quietly listened to their speech, wondering vaguely how long it would take for the idiot with the slave chip to come and finish his job.

 _It can't take this long to find one tiny chip. They're droid manufacturers for crying out loud._

She rolled her eyes, fingering her blaster pressed into the small of her back as she approached the door.

Well, she'd spent enough time feeling sorry for herself. Now it was time to get even and get paid.

 _After all a bounty hunter always gets his due_

She smirked as she quietly sidled up to the doorway and gave a loud cry.

"Ahhh! Help please I need help! Can't-can't breathe-" she forced a fake choking sound, laughing to herself when the alarmed droids on the other side of the door quickly jumped into action.

"Prisoner claims to be in physical distress" one of them robotically "possible respiratory-system malfunction -requesting permission to enter cell."

"Permission granted." Another droid said "Open the doors"

"Roger, roger"

Una rolled her eyes.

This was just too easy.

 _Pew-pew! Pew-pew!_

* * *

When Master Qui-Gon Jinn ad Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi both stepped off their spacecraft they both bristled at once. There was something in the force, a nudge, if nudge it could be called, from the depths of this very space station.

If either Jedi or Padawan were concerned about it they didn't show it as they graciously followed the silver protocol droid Tee-cee-fourteen out of the hangar and further into the ship.

They were quickly ushered into what looked like a conference room with a large table set with many chairs.

"We are greatly honoured by your visit, Ambassadors. Make yourselves comfortable, my master shall be with you shortly." Tee-cee-fourteen, bobbed its head docility before bustling out of the doors which shut tight behind it.

As soon as the doors were sealed shut, the two Jedi lowered the hoods of their brown robes.

"I have a bad feeling about this" the younger with the short auburn hair and a small Padawan braid, folded his arms in his sleeves, brow furrowed anxiously.

The elder of the two, an older man with dark brown hair and beard peppered with grey seemed calm in comparison as he softly spoke.

"I don't sense anything"

"It's not about the mission master. It's something elsewhere…illusive" he muttered, eyes darting around nervously as they slowly strode up towards a large window opposite them.

"Don't centre on your anxieties Obi-Wan. Keep your concentration here and in the now where it belongs." Qui-Gon clipped quietly, staring out onto the vast expanse of space outside.

"But Master Yoda said I should be mindful of the future" Obi-Wan frowned in confusion, much to his master's slight amusement. Mature though he may be in many ways, his Padawan was still very much green in others.

"But not at the expense of the moment. Be mindful of the living force, young Padawan"

"Yes Master"

Obi-Wan said, calmly, though the slight furrow in his brow betrayed his own concerns as he felt through the force. He wasn't sure why, but he felt genuinely like something was going to go wrong for them. Also there was someone else here…

Qui-Gon smirked slightly at the determined look on his Padawan's face. Obi-Wan was a stubborn one, always had been, and always would be. Even so…

The old master turned his attention now towards the still shut conference room door. He could feel the life force of, not one, but many beings aboard this station, many of them afraid and nervous by their presence. All save one, which seemed to be determined to move about erratically, almost desperately, it's purpose not quite clear, its form somehow brighter amidst all the dark shadows cast into the Force.

Perhaps this being was the elusive disturbance in the force Obi-Wan was sensing?

If so, he hoped for their sake it was not antagonistic. The Nemoidians on this station seemed disturbed and wary, and already he could feel that it wouldn't be easy to sway them to the Chancellors demands. It would truly be tiresome to have to deal with another hostile adversary in addition to their formal duties as ambassadors.

* * *

 _By the gods, you'd think the Trade Federation would think to invest in smarter droids_

Una rolled her eyes as she quietly slid out of the ventilation shaft and down into the corridor. She was finally out of the station's detention centre, but so far there had been no raising of security, nor any patrols alerted to her situation. Obviously, her escape had gone mostly unnoticed. Then again, the Viceroy and his deputy had wanted to keep her presence on the ship as hushed up as normal.

 _They must not think I'm that important after all._

She almost felt insulted. She was one of the best in her field of work, and took great pride in her skills as a bounty hunter.

However, seeing as her present state of anonymity currently worked in her favour in keeping her alive and not being shot at, she was willing to overlook such insolence and focus on the tasks ahead. Tasks like getting paid for her job, and payback if that didn't work.

 _A bounty hunter always gets his due._

She repeated to herself silently, slipping her small blaster up her jacket sleeve, dark brown eyes darting around.

But even as she walked down the deserted corridors, she could hear frantic small groups of Nemoidian drudges hissing and whispering about the arrival of some ambassadors sent by the supreme chancellor.

 _Ah…so they don't want to cause a scene in front of these ambassadors, do they? That explains it._

She wondered vaguely who these ambassadors could be to warrant such worry. She could tell at once that their concern wasn't the usual nervousness of an impending business deal. No this was pure fear.

And soon she saw the reason for it.

"Shit." She breathed.

There was Naboo, the magnificent, gigantic beautiful blue and green marble she had just been admiring in her ship several hours ago from a distance, now surrounded by a ring of other smaller black space stations, which orbited like an asteroid belt.

Though she'd never seen such a spectacle in her life, she knew at once what it must mean.

"Blockade…" she frowned as she caught sight of her faint reflection in the glass.

A young woman, no more than twenty years old, stared back at her. Two cat-like dark eyes narrowed from within a lightly tanned skinned, angular face. Her wavy long black hair, already streaked with some strands of grey, was tied back into a high ponytail of cornrow braids which stood out starkly contrasting with the high collared blood red jacket she wore over her armored skin tight blue-black jumpsuit.

Trust her luck to be stuck in the middle of these messy stupid politics.

She shook her head and sighed.

She was wasting time. She needed to get back to her ship and re arm herself. She wasn't going to be much of a threat against armed droids with her tiny blaster. Well she could, but she'd often found that a rifle always looked far more intimidating when handling " _business negotiations_ ".

She had almost reached the main hangar where she'd docked her spacecraft when something shiny caught the corner of her eye.

She turned quickly and saw a silver protocol droid bumbling along down the corridor, a tray of refreshments held tight in its hands. It was a shinier newer model than the other protocol droids she'd seen closer to the brig. She wondered whom it was serving.

Despite her urgency to get herself another rifle from her ship, Una found her feet drawn to follow the droid's path. She couldn't explain why, but her gut was telling her that wherever the droid was going it was probably going to be useful. And Una always trusted her gut.

She quickly caught up to the droid, and it turned with a slight jolt, surprised at her sudden appearance.

"Oh, hello. I am Tee-Cee-fourteen. How might I be of assistance."

"My name is Una Crest, I have business dealings with your masters. Would it be possible for you to guide me to them? As you can see I'm a bit lost." Una responded cordially, carefully fingering her blaster in her sleeve, just in case.

But the droid did not seem alarmed at all. On the contrary it bobbed its head and said robotically:

"Of course, it would be my pleasure to serve you. However, I am afraid the masters are unable to talk right now. They will be shortly in proceedings with the Supreme Chancellors Ambassadors-"

"I know. That is why I am here. I am from the ambassador's ship and I need to deliver an urgent message to them and your masters" Una lied, the words slipping from her mouth easily.

The droid didn't even bother to check her credentials, as with a civil and courteous bob of the head it acquiesced to her request and led her down towards its destination.

Una kept her face schooled into one of blank politeness, though her mind was racing as a plan began to form in her cunning mind.

So this droid was serving those ambassadors were they? They must've been here to stop the blockade. Normally Una made it a point to never take on a job that got her involved in politics, but considering her current situation and her lust for payback, she was willing to bend her rules just a little.

Of course, she could just get a bigger gun and point it at the Viceroy's head if he didn't pay her up front. But where would be the fun in that? But if she were to ask for payment _nicely_ in front of these Ambassadors… They'd have no choice but to give into her demands without looking suspicious.

Being caught in illegal dealings was bad for business. The last thing they'd want would be for her to spill the beans on all the sordid work she'd done for the Trade Federation in recent days…especially since it looked like it had contributed to this suspiciously hostile blockade on one of the most pacifist planets in the Republic.

 _Oh those sleemos would be squirming in their seats!_

She could practically smell the credits pouring into her pocket as Tee-Cee-Fourteen, led her into a conference room where two men were sitting.

Or rather, two Jedi in brown robes.

Una's eyebrows shot up slightly in surprise as she drank in their features. One was young one old.

 _A master and a Padawan._

She mused. She had never met a jedi before, but had heard a lot about them from Slyde, who himself had said he'd only seen a couple in his long life.

Padawans, he'd told her, always wore a small braid on the left, like the one the young man had on his head which she saw as his head whipped around to look at her. He looked to be about her age, maybe even a couple of years older. She wondered vaguely how far he was into his apprenticeship, for though he wore the braid, he looked sure of himself as he met her gaze in surprise.

As Tee-Cee-Fourteen announced her presence he opened his mouth to speak, only to be silenced by his elder who looked upon her face, scanning it intently as she took a seat at the table a few feet away.

"Would you like me to get you some refreshments as well Miss Crest?" the protocol droid asked and Una nodded.

"Yes please, and make it something strong."

"Of course ma'am." The droid bobbed its head and bustled out the door again. Once the doors were shut the older Jedi, spoke his voice careful and measured.

"You're not from our ship."

"No. I'm not" Una smirked leaning back in her chair.

"Then why are you here?" the younger one clipped, his small scowl not quite able to cover his own curiosity as he looked her over.

"I have, what you might call, unfinished business with these Nemoidians" she said carefully "And they weren't responding to my calls so I thought a more _physical_ presence might speed things up."

"And what kind of unfinished business would a Bounty Hunter want with the Viceroy of the Trade Federation?" The older Jedi's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"I would tell you-" Una shrugged nonchalantly. "-but if I did I'd be breaking the confidentiality agreement I have with my current employers, and that would be bad for business"

"So why join us here?" the young Padawan asked swiftly not missing a tack "Why sit here with us when you could go and meet the Viceroy face to face and talk business in private?"

"Because, like I said, the Viceroy has been avoiding me. But he won't be ignoring you two,"

"So you're using us to get to him?" the older Jedi straightened up eyeing her sleeve where she had the gun which glimmered for a split second.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to kill him. I just need to negotiate my payment and I'll be out of everyone's hair. Contrary to popular belief not all of us hunters are bloodthirsty thugs"

"I'm glad to hear it" the older Jedi relaxed in his chair. "My Name is Qui-Gon Jinn. And this is my Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi"

"Una Crest" Una bobbed her head at both the Jedi, before turning her head to the door as the silver protocol droid returned, carrying a second tray with a tumbler of amber alcohol and two metal cups of water.

"So how long have you two been waiting in here?" Una took the glass with a nod of thanks.

"Quite a while actually" Obi-Wan turned to Qui-Gon. "Now that I think of it, we still haven't heard word of when they'll come down. Is it in their nature to make us wait this long?"

"No." Qui-Gon's brow furrowed as he looked around the room at large "I sense an unusual amount of fear for something as trivial as this trade dispute"

"You aren't wrong there" Una muttered taking a rather unladylike swig from her drink, "everyone I've passed on my way here seems on edge. It seems you two have caused quite the stir. Even the security droids seem on edge. Then again if I had two Jedi on my space station I would be nervous too."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Obi-Wan asked sharply.

Una just shrugged.

"Listen, I don't know much of the situation here, but it doesn't take a genius to see that these bastards are up to something weird. And if I were in their shoes, the last thing I'd want is for the galaxy's _peace keepers_ on my front doorstep demanding to know what's going on."

She took another sip of her drink, resisting the urge to bristle uncomfortably as Qui-Gon fixed her in his stare once more.

However, unlike before, he seemed to be looking at her with curiosity.

And not without reason.

Not many people, let alone women, could make a successful living out of being a Bounty Hunter. It was a difficult job, filled with a lot of risk and hardship, and often it would take many years for someone to gain recognition for their skills, especially from high paying employers such as the Trade Federation.

Yet she had done so, and she was barely a few years younger than his own Padawan. Under the jacket and jumpsuit, he could make out her build. Lithe, tough but feminine enough to disguise her strength.

Her mind too, sharp and keen like her cat like eyes. He watched as she relaxed her hand and let her blaster slip down her sleeve slightly.

A normal person might've assumed she kept it there at the ready because she was wary of strangers. But Qui-Gon knew that she kept it there in his line of sight on purpose as proof what he already suspected.

So…there was something suspicious about the Trade Federation's movements. The fact that they had to hire a bounty hunter alone was seedy enough.

He wondered what kind of job they'd hired her to do. She was a killer, that much was plain to see what with the confident way she held herself in their presence. But she wasn't brainless or trigger happy. She was cunning, smart, calculating, and obviously NOT happy about not getting paid her due on time, hence her blatant attempt at blackmail.

Had he not been so concerned about the entire situation, he might've been impressed by her daring.

He could sense his Padawan was less impressed as he glanced at her suspiciously. Una just smirked a little in amusement, silently challenging him to put voice to his frustrations out loud.

 _This should be interesting_

The corners of the Jedi Master's lips quirked upwards as he watched the two younger people sizing each other up.

But then the moment was broken as Una suddenly leapt to her feet.

It was as if someone had set off a bomb inside her.

One minute Una was feeling just the overwhelming tension hanging low in the air. The next it was almost as if a shockwave had blasted through her.

The explosion, (for what else could it be?) had barely been close at all, and yet she could feel it as if it had happened in the room right next to her. And what were those screams of pain she heard?

They didn't come through her ears, but rather they just flickered like faint memories on the surface of her brain.

"What's wrong?" she heard Qui-Gon's sharp question as she turned to look at them eyes narrowed.

"I don't know what is going on but you two need to get out of here. NOW!"

"What do you me-" but Obi-Wan's frown was cut off quickly as a deep rumble suddenly sounded below them and the ground shook.

The Jedi both leapt to their feet, blurs of blue and green illuminating their faces as they drew their lightsabres.

Despite her alarm at the situation, she had to admit, she was impressed by the sight, though it was quickly ended as something hissed from their feet.

They all looked down just in time to see what looked like white smoke issuing from the air vents.

"Dioxis" Qui-Gon muttered and at once all three of them quickly sucked in a deep breath, the two males quickly extinguishing their sabres.

 _Just my luck I'm stuck with these two trouble magnets._

Una rolled her eyes at herself as she heard the hiss of the doors opening and the bustling of Tee-Cee-fourteen as it exited the room with a shocked:

"Oh, Excuse me"

Still holding her breath, she let her small blaster slip down into her hand as she heard the metallic thumps of metal feet shifting towards the now open door.

"Check it out Corporal, we'll cover you" One battle droid spoke.

"Roger, Roger" another droid responded.

Beside her Una saw the Jedi both reignite their sabers.

"Uh-oh. Blast the-" but the droid did not have time to complete the sentence as a blaster bolt from Una promptly hit him in the head.

Beside her she could see the two Jedi launch themselves at the small squad, their sabers flying as they swept down upon the thin stick like droids who desperately tried firing at them.

Unfortunately, they were quickly overwhelmed by the swiftly swung light sabers and clean shots from Una's firearm, one of which missed Obi-Wan's ear by a couple of millimeters to hit the last droid.

"Cutting it close aren't you?" he scowled at her as she strode forwards to snag a larger blaster from the fallen droid.

"Believe me Junior, if I wanted to shoot you I would've done so already" She snapped waspishly as she prepped the weapon in her arms testing its weight. It was light, and weaker than her more powerful rifles, but it would have to do.

Obi-Wan looked ready to retort but was stopped by Qui-Gon's bark of:

"Enough! We need to keep moving before the next squad comes"

They all quickly hurried away, Una vaguely wondering to herself why she was joining them. By all means she should be running back to her ship.

Only she probably had no ship left to go back to, since she was quite sure that explosion they had just felt had come from the main hangar.

 _I'm never going to get paid, am I?_

She sighed heavily, as lazily, she shot a couple of droids that tried to ambush them from a corridor to the side. She didn't even need to look to know she had hit them.

"Your aim is impressive." Qui-Gon nodded at her as they strode down the next corridor.

"pff! Childs play" she rolled her eyes. "The bridge is through there if I remember correctly"

She pointed down a corridor to their left, where a solitary door had just quickly shut at the very end.

They quickly rushed towards it, Una firing at the droids that had started to spill into the corridor behind them.

Obi-Wan joined her in their defence, deftly deflecting blasts with his lightsabre. Once or twice he and his master threw several droids back with a small force push from their bare hands.

Una wondered at this display of power. Like most children in her youth, she'd only heard of the abilities of the Jedi, but never once dreamed she'd ever get to see them in action.

She had to admit it was impressive even just to see Qui-Gon's lightsabre disappear into the now fortified blast doors behind them. The heat was so intense that the metal melted under the sheer power of the blade.

Then something grinded behind them, something that sounded to Una like two metal wheels clunking round and round on the floor.

"Master, Destroyers!" Obi-Wan called and Qui-Gon quickly retreated from the half-melted door to flank his Padawan.

"Blast it!" Una scowled as two circular droids rolled into view. She remembered seeing them the first time she'd come aboard the station, guarding the Viceroy.

They reminded her unpleasantly of the Colicoids she and Slyde had once faced before. They'd been chasing a rather slippery fiend who'd somehow managed to worm his way onto Colla IV to hide, only to get eaten alive by the Colicoids who'd found him trespassing on their nest. His two hunters barely had found his half-eaten corpse before they themselves had to escape from the insectoid alien's clutches.

Even five years afterwards, the events still brought a shiver of disgust to Una's spine as she fired upon the destroyer droids. However, her shots had little effect, as both droids were suddenly surrounded by transparent blue orbs of energy.

"They have shield generators" Obi-wan cried out pushing Una behind him and his master as he deflected the blasts with his lightsabre.

"Well spotted captain obvious" Una grumbled as she aimed a shot between the two jedi, which promptly bounced off their deflector shields and into the nearby wall.

"It's a standoff. Let's go." Qui-Grabbed her shoulder and quickly steered her out of the way, just in time to avoid the red bolt of energy that had aimed for her head.

They all began to run, Una cursing herself and her rotten luck as the source of her credits got further and further away from her.

"Why me?" she growled as they turned a corner and hit a dead end "What the hell did I do to deserve all this shit?"

"Well you did try to blackmail the Viceroy of the Trade Federation" Obi-Wan suggested sardonically. He had to admit he was a little pleased with himself as she narrowed her eyes dangerously at him.

"Maybe I wouldn't have to blackmail them if they only kept their end of the deal." she spat angrily. "I did their job, I asked no questions. But do they pay me? No! Instead they dump me in a cell and try and put a slaver's chip in me!"

"Slavers chip?" Qui-Gon stopped abruptly, eyes narrowed suspiciously. "They tried to enslave you, _illegally_?"

"Yeah! I know! Can you believe it?!" Una threw up her arms in frustration. "I mean why else would I be here trying to blast their brains out?"

"I hate to interrupt your conversation Master, but I sense we won't be alone for very long" Obi-Wan hissed eyes darting back down the path they'd come. Sure, enough they could hear the approaching footsteps of droids from around the corner.

"The ventilation shafts. Quickly!" Qui-Gon pointed to the vents above their heads.

"You've got to be kidding me." Una groaned as she watched the two Jedi climb up into the vent, Obi-Wan smirking at her from his spot.

"If you really wanted to you could stay here and let the droids shoot you"

"Oh, shut up Junior!"

"They are no match for Droidekas" the Nemoidian Viceroy's right hand smirked as they watched the surveillance feed from the corridor outside _._ In it the two Jedi and the Bounty Hunter running from said destroyer droids, the latter most blasting a nearby panel that forced a pair of doors shut behind them.

"Sir. They've gone up the ventilation shaft" one of the nearby drones called out from his section.

"Even the Hunter?" the Viceroy gulped nervously.

"Yes sir" the Drone nodded.

"I told you we should've disposed of her" his Advisor hissed. "Now she'll tell them everything"

"Not everything." The Viceroy mumbled, though his voice still wavered unsurely "She-she still does not know what was on that data disk we had her bring back. She only killed the fool that carried it and brought it back before anything could happen-"

"For all our sakes I hope you're right" His Advisor muttered under his breath.

"Sir," another drone from their right suddenly piped up "A transmission from the planet"

"it's Queen Amidala herself" the Advisor exclaimed in surprise as the pale painted face of a beautiful woman, garbed all in red with an elaborate headdress filled the communications screen.

"At last we are getting results" The Viceroy smiled.

At least this part of his day was going correct. He shuddered to think what would happen if they failed in this part of their bargain.

Lord Sidious would have their heads.

* * *

"Thank the gods" Una breathed as she landed in a crouch behind Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.

After ages crawling through those cramped air vents, the two jedi and the bounty hunter had all finally found their way into what appeared to be a large hangar.

They quickly hid behind several crates of supplies, yet to be moved by the many droids rushing to stand in neat organized rows. All around them, large armed ships stood, silent and waiting.

"Battle droids?" Qui-Gon frowned.

"It's an invasion army" Obi-Wan scanned the many rows, upon rows of droids.

"But why?" Una whispered. "Naboo's one of the most goodie-two-shoes planets there is. Why attack them?"

"I don't know. This is an odd play for the Trade Federation." Qui-Gon admitted turning quickly to his two young companions "We've got to warn the Naboo and contact Chancellor Vallorum. Let's split up, stow aboard separate ships and meet down on the planet. Yes you too Una"

He added as Una quirked a brow at him. "You're in enough trouble as it stands. They'd kill you if you stayed-"

"And my safety is important to you because?" she deadpanned

"Because you've worked with the Trade Federation-"

"And you want me to spill the beans on them" She rolled her eyes, ignoring Obi-Wan's stony stare of annoyance in her direction.

Well, she supposed it was only natural they'd want her for information. She had after all admitted to doing some of the Trade Federation's dirty work.

However, ratting out information about previous jobs for free was just bad business. But then again, so was not paying a bounty hunter for their services.

So, she did what any _reasonable_ bounty hunter in her position did, she asked:

"Alright. Say I do spill the beans then what? How much get out of this shindig?"

"You'd live to see another day, and possibly help save millions from total annihilation." Obi-Wan clipped coolly his face not even bothering to hide his sarcasm as she glared at him from the corner of her eye.

"Wasn't talking to you Junior." She turned back to Qui-Gon "So old man?"

Unlike his Padawan, Qui-Gon regarded her calmly, without even a hint of anger or annoyance.

"I honestly do not know what we will face when we get down to the surface" he answered his voice quiet and grim "However should you choose to help us I will personally see to it that Chancellor Vallorum compensates you for your troubles when we reach Coruscant. For now, however the only reward I can promise you in return for your help is your safety"

Una gazed at the Jedi Master, eyes darting between his almost as if she were trying to catch one of them lying.

As she did so, Qui-Gon was certain he felt the force around the three of them shift ever so slightly.

 _Interesting…Very interesting…_

He mused as the young woman sighed and leaned back, resignation all over her face.

"I suppose that'll have to do for now. But I warn you Jedi," Una glared at him hard and fierce "If I don't get my credits at the end of this, I will shoot you between the eyes, right where you stand. I've already been made a fool of once. I won't have that happen again. Are we clear?"

"Transparently" Qui-Gon nodded, completely relaxed despite the threat as she quietly made to move away to crouch behind another crate.

"Now I _really_ have a bad feeling about this" Obi-Wan scowled at her back as she slowly crept her way towards one of the large droid ships.

"You need to follow her into one of the ships" Qui-Gon he turned back to look at the battalions in front of him. "Keep an eye on her, make sure she won't slip out of our sight when we land."

"Forgive me master, but I doubt she'll slip away now there's promise of payment" Obi-Wan rolled his eyes with slight disgust "She likes her credits too much"

"Maybe so but until we get to Coruscant she's our only lead in finding out the Trade Federation's true motives." Qui-Gon whispered, his expression softening a little as he saw his apprentice bristle uncomfortably.

"She seems perfectly capable of looking after herself"

"Perhaps, but still. We can't be too careful"

"Very well then" Obi-Wan sucked in a deep breath, smirking a little as he snorted to himself "You were right about one thing Master. The negotiations were short."

"Perhaps…now get a move on" Qui-Gon quipped, shaking his head fondly.

Sometimes his Padawan could be quite cheeky.

 _Now what to do about you Una Crest?_

* * *

 **And there is the end of chapter 1.**

 **Hi guys, it's me, the author, here. Just wanted to wish you guys a hello before i go any further with posting up the other chapters. this is my first Star Wars fanfiction writing in a while and i'm trying to take a new direction, which means that there WON'T be an OC-Slash romantic pairing in this story (as i'm trying to experiment with a different style of writing). I hope you guys like my OC Una. She's not quite fleshed out just yet but i hope she's alright. She's not quite good and not quite bad. She's just in-between and getting caught up in the ride.**

 **Anyways, i really hope you enjoyed the first chapter and please review if you would like to read more.**

 **Cheers**

 **FuzzyBeta**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – The Most Annoying Alien in the Galaxy**

"So. Did you get the human?"

"She's on my ship." A tall Deveronian male sipped his bright blue alcoholic beverage smoothly from its glass.

Across the table the large hulking Houk leaned threateningly over the table.

"The job was to kill her" he snarled.

"No." the Deveronian put down his drink, his voice now calm and cold "You paid me to, and I quote, find her and eliminate her as a threat. And now I have her secured on my ship and she's no longer a threat."

There was the tinkling sound of glass breaking and the dripping of liquid, as the Houk promptly crushed his own drink in his gigantic hand.

"But she's still alive!" he rumbled "I wanted her head, here on this table. DEAD! LIKE A DOORNAIL! That's what I paid you for!"

"Death isn't the only method of eliminating your enemies." The Deveronian lounged back, completely at ease with the rather hostile situation, though he kept his gaze fixed shrewdly on the angry humanoid before him. "Besides…I don't kill children…unlike some psychopaths."

The Houk swelled, eyes blazing furiously as he leapt to his feet.

But no sooner had his boots touched the ground did he stop in his tracks, for the end of a blaster was pointed directly in his face.

"I wouldn't try it if I were you." The Deveronian smirked, though his sharp yellow eyes were narrowed into dangerous slits. "You know who I am, what I can do…I may not kill children, but I won't hesitate to kill a thug like you. Now, I have taken care of the threat like you asked, so if I were you I'd sit back down and hand over those credits like you promised."

"And the human?" the Houk growled, though his eyes were nervous as he looked down the barrel of the blaster in-between his eyes.

"Is none of your concern anymore. The credits. Now!"

* * *

"Why me? Why does this always happen TO ME?!"

Una Crest scowled as she sat in a small cramped space set into the walls of the giant space ship. Beside her, also cramped, if not more so, was the taller form of Jedi Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi.

He too wasn't too happy with their current predicament, though he chose to stay silent, pondering how long it would take for them to land down on Naboo, and whether his Master Qui-Gon was alright.

He was so deep in thought that he jerked a little as a soft gagging noise suddenly sounded beside him.

He quickly turned just in time to see Una gulp down on a large lump in her throat before pulling her head between her tucked knees.

"Are you alright?" Obi-Wan whispered, reaching out to her shoulder but she just shrugged him off roughly.

"I'm fine" she hissed, but even as he caught sight of her face, he could see it was now tinged slightly green. "Just a little…ugh…space sick"

"Ah…right" Obi-Wan nodded glancing around their hiding spot nervously. However, to his dismay there was no container in sight for her to puke into.

As if reading his thoughts, Una rolled her eyes.

"I'll hold it in. As long as they don't jerk us around too much I think we'll be fine. God this is why i hate flying!"

"Do you not travel through space often?" Obi-Wan asked curiously as he settled back down beside her, the two of them now shoulder to shoulder.

Una just shook her head as she tried to suck in a large calming breath.

"No, I travel a lot. I've got to, I mean, look at me I'm a Hunter for crying out loud. I just…I just don't like flying in small places is all. What?" she frowned as the corners of Obi-Wan's lips quirked upwards despite his attempts to keep his face neutral.

"Nothing…it's - I've never heard of a Bounty Hunter who got space sick"

"Well now you have" Una's scowl deepened angrily, but she was kept from further retorts by the ship giving a small lurch.

She clamped her mouth shut, hand flying to her mouth as the bile rose up in her throat.

"Don't touch me" she snapped as she felt the Padawan next to her raise his arm to pat her back soothingly.

"I was just trying to help" he muttered, his irritability only matched by her own anger.

"Well don't." she hissed holding her knees tighter to her "Trust me it's easier if I just ride this out on my own-ugh" she shut her mouth tight again as another wave of nausea hit her.

Obi-Wan sighed as he leaned away from her, breathing deeply as he tried to regulate his emotions.

The girl, for she was still younger than him, irritated him.

She only seemed to care about herself, and her own survival. As far as he could tell she was only in this job for the credits, and not for helping the innocent citizens of Naboo, who were now suffering because of the Trade Federation's actions. Actions this Bounty Hunter had probably contributed to.

 _No…that's a bit extreme_

He corrected himself quickly, berating himself for his own hastiness. She might have contributed to the events taking place, but she was nowhere near responsible for them. Now that he thought about it, she was probably just as much a pawn in this whole affair as the battle droids that surrounded her.

Like she said, most bounty hunters rarely, if ever, asked questions about the jobs they took, preferring to stay professionally out of the personal affairs of the parties involved. That still didn't alleviate his irritation towards her, which only grew as he watched her struggle against her own body's reactions to space travel.

If only she'd just let go of her stubbornness and pride for one second they might be able to make it through this journey in peace without getting covered in her sick.

Little did he know that right beside him, Una was almost thinking the exact same thing.

 _Typical Inner-Rim pampered prince._

She rolled her eyes to herself.

 _Thinks because he was raised all snug and safe he can look down his nose at me. Well we'll see who's laughing when I get my hands on a working rifle._

Or would she?

No. Whilst she was sure shooting the Padawan Jedi would be satisfying, she still needed him and his master to hold up their end of their deal.

 _By the gods, the things I do for my credits._

She sighed to herself shutting her eyes. Maybe she should just let herself puke all over him, if only to add to his misery and her own personal entertainment.

* * *

Darth Sidious snarled angrily from under his hooded cloak.

It was wrong. It was all wrong.

The Trade Federation Invasion of Naboo was going ahead as he had planned, but those snivelling pathetic excuses for beings, the Nemoidians, had botched everything.

Not only had they let the blasted Jedi slip through their slimy fingers, but they'd lost the Bounty Hunter as well.

He told them to dispose of her once she had completed her mission. But no. The Trade Federation had wanted to keep her, make her their slave for future missions.

And now if his instincts were correct, she had joined the Jedi in their search for the Queen as payback. Oh yes, he knew the three pests were on Naboo.

If they had been killed, the Viceroy would be over the moon proudly proclaiming his achievement for the whole galaxy to hear.

 _It would seem the force is with them today_

He seethed quietly as he looked over the now bright clear skies of Coruscant. It was almost like the weather itself were mocking him now.

But instead of deterring him, he let his anger grow. Let it consume him as he drank as much of the dark side of the force he could get from it.

The force might be on the side of the Jedi now, but if he played his cards right, he could still turn this around in his favour.

He just needed patience.

* * *

The large forest clearing was full of the whirring of machines and the crashes of nearby trees getting mowed down. Such was the level of noise that the droid captain of the battle droids almost was unable to hear the incoming transmission from its leaders.

"Yes Viceroy" it spoke as the Nemoidian Viceroy and his Advisor appeared before him in small holographic form on the top of his tank.

"Captain. We have searched the ship. And there is no trace of the Jedi, or the Bounty Hunter. They may have escaped on one of your landing craft" the Advisor clipped urgently.

"If they're down here sir we'll find them" the droid nodded as the Viceroy made to address it.

"Use caution. These Jedi are not to be underestimated"

There was a flicker of blue and the hologram disappeared.

As the droid captain made to prepare his tank for movement, he didn't even notice the two humanoid figures slip out from the shadow underneath his tank and into the tree line.

"That was close." Obi-Wan puffed as he and Una quickly ducked for cover behind some shrubs.

"Yeah…tell me about it" she mumbled, her green cheeks bulging. "Excuse me for one second"

Obi-Wan grimaced in disgust as she all but threw herself at the base of a tall tree and wretched. The smell of vomit and bile filled the air as she expelled all she had from her system.

It wasn't much, for it had been a while since she had eaten, but still it was disgusting enough to make the jedi next to her nearly gag as well.

 _Wow…she really wasn't kidding about that space sickness huh?_

He swallowed down his urge to choke as he walked over her and gave her a helpful thud on the back.

"Thanks" she rasped as she spat the last of the bile.

"Don't mention it" Obi-Wan coughed, looking everywhere but her as she wiped away the saliva from her chin.

"How long have you been getting space sick?" he asked quietly.

"Since I was way high of the ground" she pointed to random point two feet off the ground "I've been travelling on space crafts for as long as I can remember. But by the gods, no matter how hard I try I can never get used to it. I prefer being on the ground. Slower but steadier"

"Unless you happen to be standing in the middle of an earthquake" Obi-Wan snorted and was not disappointed as she straightened up and rolled her eyes sardonically at him.

"Wow, you really have a way with words junior"

"Why thank you" Obi-Wan smirked.

"Wasn't a compliment" she gasped as she unhitched a small water pouch from the inside of her jacket and took a swig. "So now what?"

"Now what, what?" Obi-Wan frowned and she groaned.

" _Now what_ do we do? We were supposed to meet your old man down here remember?"

"Oh right yes of course." he nodded looking around quickly, only to stop dead in his tracks as he locked gazes with a droid on the other side of the shrubs. "but maybe we should focus on getting out of here first"

Una followed his gaze, her gut sinking horribly.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

* * *

When Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn had woken that morning, he had not expected his day to be so hectic.

True he'd never thought it would be easy dealing with the Trade Federation. Galactic Politics always was a sticky mess to get dragged into.

But never in his wildest dreams did he think that by midday he'd be running the length of a Naboo forest and out of the way of a massive invasion force.

It was just his luck, he thought to himself as he darted through the trees. He was joined by many of the disturbed and frightened natural wildlife trying desperately to escape the army behind them.

Including an unsuspecting humanoid who screamed, flailing its arms in the air as he sped towards it.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" he yelled in basic but the humanoid, amphibious creature just continued screeching its head off, promptly grabbing at him as they bumped into one another.

 _Curse this creature_

Qui-Gon thought savagely as he forced both himself and the creature down onto the muddy forest ground. There was a rush of hot air as the droid landing craft smoothly glided over the top of them, blissfully unaware of the two humanoids as they sat up to watch it leave.

Or at least the amphibious humanoid watched it in awe, while the human Jedi promptly stood up, brushed himself off and began striding towards an undamaged portion of the forest.

"Wait-hey wait! Oh-moi-oh-moi I love you" the creature shouted after him in relief, much to his mounting irritation.

"You almost got us killed. Are you brainless?"

"I spaek!" the creature huffed.

"The ability to speak does not make you intelligent. Now get out of here"

"No-no. Meesa stay. Meesa called Jar-Jar Binks. Meesa your humble servant" the creature, Jar-Jar insisted earnestly much to Qui-Gon's increasing disdain.

"That won't be necessary"

"Oh but it is. It demanded by the Gods it is. Uh-oh look out!" Jar-Jar screeched as the sounds and flashes of blasters suddenly flew over their heads.

"Stay down!" Qui-Gon shouted, shoving Jar-Jar back down to the ground as he ignited his lightsabre.

He deflected the blasts, noticing with some relief and alarm that amidst all the firing, both his Padawan and their new ally the Bounty Hunter were running helter-skelter towards them.

They skidded to a stop, Una ducking out of the way just in time as Qui-Gon deflected a blast aimed for her head, back to the droid pursuing them on an air-speeder.

"You saved my again" Jar-Jar huffed as he leapt to his feet.

"What's this?" Obi-Wan eyed Jar-Jar with a mixture of intrigue and irritation.

"A local." Qui-Gon muttered, turning to help a pale faced Una stand up straight "Are you alright?"

"I'm good-I'm good" Una swatted him off waspishly, taking another swig of her water pouch.

Content that she was fine, Qui-Gon turned to the others.

"Come on. Let's get out of here before more droids show up"

"More?! More did you Spaek?!" Jar-Jar exclaimed loudly the sound all but piercing through Una's head.

 _Keep it cool. Don't go blasting off its head just yet, we're still not out of the woods. Literally_.

She sucked in a deep calming breath as she tried to drown out the maddening cacophony that was Jar-Jar Binks.

"HEY! Where are yoousa going?"

"Somewhere safe" Qui-Gon grunted as he and Obi-Wan began to pick up the pace.

 _And of course further away from this accident waiting to happen._

Una rolled her eyes, as she jogged to keep up the two Jedi, the alien following hot on their heels.

"Exqueese me! But the mosta safest place is Gunga City. It's where I grew up! Tis a hidden city!"

That last explanation made the two Jedi pull up short, so suddenly that Una almost knocked into them as she skidded to a stop.

"A hidden city?" Qui-Gon frowned "Can you take us there?"

"Uh…" Jar-Jar paused bristling uncomfortably under the stare of the three humans. The girl's catlike eyes especially seemed to disturb him the most as he mumbled guiltily "Uh…on second thought no. Not really no"

"Meaning?" Una growled, hands on her hips as she fingered the small blaster there.

"Well uh…isa…uh…embarrassing but-ah-my afraid my might've been banished" Jar-Jar looked down at the ground ashamedly "Ah yah-My forgotten, the bosses doin' terrible things to me. TERRIBLE things to me if goin' back there"

"Do you hear that?" Qui-Gon pointed back the way they had come, where in the distance all of them heard the ominous sounds of something large and heavy, blasting and crashing through the forest.

"Yah?"

"That is the sound of a thousand terrible things heading this way" the Jedi Master stalked closer into the alien's face, along with his smirking Padawan.

"If they find us, they will crush us into tiny pieces and blast us into oblivion"

"Ah…Yousa point is well seen!" Jar-Jar gulped nervously

"this way hurry- whoa!" he cried out, wheeling about and narrowly avoiding a collision with Una who shot him such a terrifying glower that he all but leapt away from her in a fright.

"Yousa, real scary" he mumbled under his breath and she smirked wickedly.

"And don't you forget it" and with that she snapped her teeth at him. She grinned back at the Jedi, whose eyebrows were raised "What? I'm just having a little bit of fun"

It was at this moment Qui-Gon spotted, peeking out of the collar of her clothes, what looked like an amber crystal shard, tied on a dark metal cord.

"Where did you get that?" Obi-Wan wondered aloud. How could he have not noticed that? True the ship they'd been hiding in was dark, but the crystal seemed to have its own glow. Not a phosphorescent one, almost…an essence.

He was pulled from his thoughts as she narrowed her eyes warily at him and his master, her body tensing uncomfortably.

"It's just a trinket I found on Nal Hutta. Not that I see why that matters. Now come on, before those tin cans catch us"

She turned their backs on them to follow Jar-Jar, not noticing the looks of intrigue the Jedi were both sharing behind her.

It seemed their new ally was proving to be more interesting than they first thought.

* * *

They walked a good two hours through the lush dense Nabooian forest after Jar-Jar, who kept prattling on and on loudly about his people, the Gungans, much to Una's disdain.

Now Una was all for learning about new species and the planets they came from. It was one of the reasons she liked her job as a bounty hunter. Whilst she couldn't profess to like all the species she encountered, she had learned quickly to at least tolerate the annoying ones, if only for short periods of time.

But then occasionally, she'd find creatures like Jar-Jar Binks, aliens whose very existence just simply pushed the limits of her patience within two seconds of meeting them.

 _Seriously of all the creatures we had to pick up, it had to be the most annoying one in the galaxy?_

She glanced sidelong at Obi-Wan, who for once seemed to share her sentiment and rolled his eyes at the back of the Gungan's head as he led them to the edges of a large lake.

"How much further?" Qui-Gon asked as he noticed the Gungan's footsteps slowing down as they reached the nearest bank.

"Weesa goin' underwater okiday?" Jar-Jar smiled. "But my warning you. Gungans no likey outsiders, so don't 'spect a warm welcome"

"Oh don't worry. It hasn't been our day for warm welcomes" Obi-Wan replied sarcastically, only to wince as with an elaborate summersault and great big splash, the Gungan dove into the water.

"Great. Fantastic! Now I have to swim" Una grumbled as she fished out her small portable rebreather from her jacket pocket.

"Do you always complain about everything?" Obi-Wan sighed at the younger woman, who snorted.

"What can I say. It's part of my charm."

"I'm sure it is." Obi-Wan rolled his eyes.

"If you two are quite finished, we have more important things to be getting on with" Qui-Gon sighed as he fixed his own small rebreather to his mouth.

As the three of them waded into the water Jar-Jar surfaced, a big wide grin spreading across his bill like mouth.

"Yousa follow me now okiday?"

By the gods how Una wanted to shoot that duck-billed nuisance.

The journey below the waters of the Naboo was long and arduous. Una thanked her lucky stars that she was a strong swimmer and that she was wearing her rebreather.

She was both impressed and annoyed to see that both the Jedi were faring far better than her in the long swim down.

It didn't help that the Jedi Padawan, Obi-Wan shot her a smug look as he swum past her.

 _Little shit._

She growled as she sped up the pace of her strokes, passing him by from beneath. Oh, how she wanted to wipe that smirk off his face.

If she could read his mind, she might have been even more frustrated to discover that deep down, he found her vexation most amusing as he swam up beside her and gave her a jostle with his shoulder.

She was quick to accept the challenge, scowling angrily as she sped past him, only to have him quickly catch up with a few large strokes of his longer arms.

Behind them, Qui-Gon sighed mentally at their small competition.

Obi-Wan might have been a dutiful, wise and disciplined Jedi Padawan, but he was also still a young man, headstrong, stubborn and idealistic. Not like the bounty hunter Una, whose jaded amber eyes spoke of what Qui-Gon could only imagine was a very rough childhood in a harsh galaxy.

Yet despite this clash of worlds, the old Jedi could see the two youths were far more similar than either wanted to admit.

 _If they could let go of whatever pride they have, together they might become a formidable force to reckon with._

He mused. While he followed the Jedi Code's rule on emotional attachment, he did not think that meant that a Jedi could not have friends or allies. Despite its physical size, the galaxy wasn't as large a place as it used to be, especially with the Republic indoctrinating more and more planets every year under its thumb.

Also in the past few years, he and Obi-Wan had been on a lot of missions, far away from the temple, so much so that the young padawan rarely got a chance to talk to others his own age, both Jedi and non-Jedi.

 _As long as he doesn't end up getting too attached, I'm sure he'll be fine_

He sighed, big bubbles blowing out of his rebreather as he, Obi-Wan and Una finally caught sight of the great underwater Gungan city before them.

Despite her irritation, Una couldn't help but marvel at the great large bubble-like buildings that stretched out in front of her. Each one was beautifully lit by small dim yellow lights that twinkled up at them from the depths of the waters below.

But no matter how far Una looked she could not see a doorway or even a vent of any kind.

 _So how are we supposed to get in?_

She wondered, but her answer was quickly answered, to her surprise, by Jar-Jar.

With a grace that was almost surprising, the usually clumsy Gungan quickly swam over to the edge of one of the bubble-like structures, his feet lowering down towards a small platform constructed outside one of the frames built within.

Una, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon quickly followed his lead, all three of them marvelling as they found themselves stepping through what appeared to be some kind of transparent forcefield, almost like a deflector shield.

As soon as they were through, Una felt a damp weight settle over her and cursed as she looked down. Herself and her clothes were all soaked through to the bone.

"Damn it" she hissed to herself as she shook her arms out.

Beside her Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan both shook themselves out too, the latter shaking out his head to clear himself of the water to his ears.

As soon as they were cleared, he became uncomfortably aware of several voices gasping and squeaking in shock and looked up.

The bubble they had arrived in, looked to be a courtyard of sorts. The many gungans that had been walking around it were all now backing away nervously as Jar-Jar shook himself out like a wet dog, his smile widening goofily as he exclaimed.

"So good being home."

Apparently, no one else seemed to share his sentiment, as upon catching sight of Jar-Jar, nearly all the gungans all but ran away.

Not that Una could blame them, she snorted as she caught sight of what appeared to be two Gungan guards, seated on strange two-legged mounts making their way towards them, spears in their hands.

"Keep calm" Qui-Gon hissed in her ear as he gently prized her hand away from her blaster.

Una glared at him, not liking the idea of being ordered about like a child, but upon catching the stern glint in the Jedi's eyes, huffed and folded her arms as the two guards finally came close.

"Hey, Youusa! Stopa there!" one of the guards, a Gungan with a couple of facial whiskers barked.

"Heyo-dales, Cap'n Tarpals. Meesa back!" Jar-Jar greeted the gungan in a friendly fashion.

The guard captain on the other hand just shook his head and sighed in exasperation.

"Not again Jar-Jar. Yousa goin' to the bosses. Yousa in big doo-doo dis time."

"Great, now we're captured. _Again._ " Una muttered darkly, but nonetheless followed the guards as they began leading Jar-Jar and the Jedi away from their spot.

"Relax my young friend. We are not in too much trouble yet. Indeed, if all goes well we might be in luck." Qui-Gon folded his arms in his damp sleeves as they walked.

"No offence old man, but so far all your schemes are pushing us into more trouble" Una rolled her eyes, her teeth gritting as Obi-Wan snapped from her other side.

"Oh as if your idea of blackmailing the Trade Federation was any better?"

"Spare me the lecture junior. I've gone through enough crap today without you adding to it."

"Hey-" Obi-Wan began but was cut off by the Gungan captain.

"Hey, Yousa! Keep quiet!" he hissed waving his electro-spear warningly in both their faces.

The Padawan and the hunter both shut their mouths quickly, glowering mutinously at one another much to Qui-Gon's mounting exasperation.

He was almost relieved to see the Gungan leader and his court. He was fatter than the other gungans, so much so that he had three chins bulging under his squat bill like mouth.

He sneered as the three surface dwelling humanoids introduced themselves with a bow.

Or at least Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan bowed. Una begrudgingly bobbed her head and stood behind the two Jedi while they stated their business.

"Tkk-tkk-tkk-tkk-tkk-tkk-tkk! Yousa cannot bees hair. Dis army of Mackineeks up dare is new weesong" The Gungan Leader tutted distastefully, shaking his head.

"A droid army is about to attack the Naboo. We must warn them." Qui-Gon stated firmly but gently, his voice barely betraying any of the inner worry beginning to grow within.

But the Gungan leader was not phased one bit.

"Weesa no like da Naboo. Tkk-tkk-tkk-tkk-tkk! Da Naboo tink day so smarty. Day tink day brains so big."

 _Gee, I wonder why?_

Una rolled her eyes sideways at Jar-Jar who was standing behind, flanked by two guards, and looking very sheepish.

In front of her, Obi-Wan stepped forwards, hands folded passively in front of him as he calmly said:

"Once those Once those droids take control of the surface, they will take control of you-"

"Meesa no tink so. Day not know of uss-en." The Gungan Leader countered, straightening up smugly, but Obi-Wan wasn't deterred in the slightest.

"You and the Naboo form a symbiont circle. What happens to one of you will affect the other. You must understand this."

While the Padawan irritated her, she had to admit he had a very valid point. From what she had seen of the Trade Federation's vast army, they obviously meant to take over all of Naboo, not just the planet's capital. She wouldn't put it past them to even try and commit genocide and wipe out the Gungans, that's if they didn't try and enslave them first.

She bristled uncomfortably as she rubbed her neck. The point where they'd injected her with the knock out drug still stung slightly, but it wasn't as bad as it had been earlier.

But what stung, even more, was her pride.

She should've been up there on that space station, shooting blaster bolts of the heads of the Viceroy and his snivelling advisor, or safe and sound in her ship with all her credits. Instead she was standing here in an underwater city, skulking about in the trails of two Jedi.

She was brought out of her reverie by the Gungan leader's deep drawl.

"Wesa give yousa una bongo. Da speediest way tooda Naboo... 'tis goen through the planet core." He sneered, and Una could not help but finger her small handheld blaster in her sleeve in readiness even as he gestured dismissively.

"Now…Gooo…"

"Thank you for your help. We leave in peace" Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan bowed, and Una nodded again as she followed them back towards the door.

"Master, what's a Bongo?" Obi-Wan asked curiously.

"A transport, I hope," Qui-Gon muttered, glancing at Una as she snorted. "You seem amused."

"Not really. Don't expect anything state of the art from this lot. They want us gone one way or the other." Una murmured.

"Only too true I'm afraid" Qui-Gon agreed solemnly.

"Deysa setten yousa up." Jar-Jar piped up from where he was standing big eyes bulging even more in his goofy face. "Goen through da planet core?Bad bombin'. Mmm... any help here would be hot."

He smiled nervously raising his shackled hands.

"Please leave him behind. Please leave him behind." Una whispered to herself quietly only to groan as she caught sight of the sympathy in Qui-Gon's eyes as he looked at the creature.

Obi-Wan noticed it too, but unlike Una, his irritation did not show. Or at least it didn't show on his face. His voice was practically laced with impatience.

"Master, we're short on time."

"We need a navigator to get us through the planet's core. This Gungan may be of help." He turned back to the Gungan leader "What is to become of Jar-Jar Binks?"

The Gungan leader sneered widely.

"Hisen soon to be pune-ished."

Jar-Jar gulped, as Qui-Gon stepped forwards.

"I saved his life. He owes me what you call a life-debt. Your gods demand that his life belongs to me now."

"Binkssssss, yousa havena liveplay with thisen hisen?" The Gungan Leader hissed angrily, practically steaming where he sat as he glared down a nervous Jar-Jar who nodded at his toes.

 _So…which will it be? Keep the idiot and punish him, or push aside pride for a minute and let the stupid humans take care of him for you._

Una smirked as she watched the larger of the two Gungans suddenly shake his head out so that his growl came out as an odd but hilarious blubbered groan, that ended with a booming bark:

"BEGONE WITH 'IM!"

"Finally" Una rolled her eyes as she and Obi-Wan both turned to walk out the door.

Behind them, Una could hear Jar-Jar grumbling as his guards released his shackles.

"Count me outta dis one. Better dead here than dead in da core. Yee gods! What mesa sayin'?!"

Una pinched her nose.

She was stranded on a planet under siege from a droid army, on the run from double-crossing ex-employers who'd by now want her very dead, all in the company of an old and annoyingly compassionate Jedi Master, his equally irritating (if not more so) smug Padawan, and what was probably the most annoying creature that had ever walked the galaxy. Oh and let's not forget she was probably going to die traveling underwater through a planet core, in transport that was most likely busted up by said creature's people.

 _This day just keeps getting worse and worse._

* * *

The pretty young brunette woman, sighed heavily as she looked into the mirror over her bathroom sink.

Her once elaborate hair was now tied back simply into a small braided bun which she quickly hid under an orange hood of a set of handmaiden's robes.

"I have a bad feeling about this Sabe" she scowled at her youthful reflection in the mirror, which also had a view of the elaborate bedroom behind her.

"So do I." another young woman, who looked very much like her admitted as she let a couple of other girls pin in a large elaborate headdress onto her head.

"But it must be done. If you are to have any chance of escaping the wrath of the Trade Federation they must not find yo-"

"I know" the young woman in front of the mirror, sighed again as she splashed some cool water on her face.

"I just-I don't want to see you, _any of you_ , get hurt by them." she added looking at the other young women in the room, who all smiled fondly.

"My Queen" the woman with the headdress, Sabe, stood up proudly revealing her more elaborate robes of black. "It is our honour to protect and serve you, and nothing not even this invasion will stop us in our duty."

Despite her immense worry, Padme Amidala smiled.

"Thank you Sabe. Thank all of you. I couldn't do this without you."

* * *

Una, scowled as she folded her arms.

The small submarine-like vehicle was small and cramped, and had seen better days.

 _Oh well at least it works…somewhat…_

She grumbled as she forced herself to sit beside Qui-Gon in the back seats while Obi-Wan and Jar-Jar took up the helm.

"Dis is nutsen. Oh, gooberfish!" the Gungan smiled delightedly as a shadowy form of a fish swam by the viewport next to him.

"Why were you banished, Jar-Jar?" Obi-Wan asked curiously as he directed the craft down deeper into the watery depths.

"It's a longo tale-o, but a small part of it would be mesa…uh…clumsy."

"You were banished because you were clumsy?" Obi-Wan frowned at the Gungan who shrugged as he did his best to avoid the spotlight placed upon him.

"Yousa might'n be sayin dat."

Jar-Jar looked very sheepish, and despite herself, Una couldn't help but be intrigued herself.

This creature was stupid, but what could he have done to warrant exile from his people?

 _And what if he has a bounty?_

Her inner bounty hunter sneered as it reared its head, but she quickly squashed it down as the ship bumped a little. With a gulp she sucked in a deep breath to steady herself, earning herself a concerned glance from Qui-Gon.

"I'm fine" she grunted through gritted teeth.

"Sorry but controls on this ship are a little outdated" Obi-Wan apologized as he fiddled with a few switches close to the steering.

"I know. I can see" Una nodded, glowering at said controls. She didn't know much about Gungan technology but from the looks of things, this model had to be several decades old at least.

It did little to soothe her nerves, especially when she felt a prickling sensation on the back of her neck.

She turned her head slightly, brows creasing as she looked out the back windows of the craft.

She could've sworn she'd seen a dark shadow in the murky waters.

What she wasn't aware of was Qui-Gon's sharp gaze on her as he watched her closely.

 _So…she can feel it too? Interesting._

The older Jedi, calmly folded his hands in his robes, remembering all too well the way she'd jumped out of her chair back on the Trade Federation control ship.

Meanwhile in the front of the small craft, Obi-Wan was trying his best to drown out the one sided conversation with Jar-Jar, who was explaining the circumstances of his banishment with great gusto.

"-Mesa caused mabbe one, two-y lettle bitty axadentes, huh? Yud-say boom da gassar, den crashin der boss's heyblibber, den banished."

There was a great lurch as something thick and heavy suddenly collided with the rear of the craft.

Despite herself, Una couldn't help but yelp a little as they started to get sucked backwards forcibly into what felt like a large giant clamp.

"Big Gooberfish! Huge-o teeth!" Jar-Jar screeched as the giant fish, for giant fish it was, began to swim away in the direction opposite to where they'd been headed.

Then just as quickly as they were being sped away, the monsters jaws suddenly let go of them and a massive roar filled their ears.

"Holy shit" Una gaped in amazement as she saw through the window, a gigantic hulking mass ripping the monster fish in two with its large sharp claws.

"There's always a bigger fish" Qui-Gon smirked as he settled serenely back into his corner of the ship.

"Mesa tink we goen back now."

"For once I agree with you" Una muttered under her breath, doing her best to take huge soothing breaths.

Just her luck she was stuck on the bottom of the ocean in a tiny old watercraft with two Jedi and the most annoying Alien in the galaxy.

* * *

 **And there is chapter 2. So yeah, Una suffers from motion sickness, or as she calls it "space sickness" . i figured that in a large galaxy there had to be some people/aliens who'd have trouble with motion sickness in some space craft. they even met *shudders* Jar-Jar Binks. i figured someone like Una would really detest him, but would do her best to refrain from "accidentally" shooting him.**

 **anyways review if you enjoyed and i'll see you next time.**

 **Adieu,**

 **FuzzyBeta**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – Rescue Mission**

The Deveronian Bounty Hunter sighed as he strode aboard the ramp up into the large Corellian YT-1300f light freighter, where a twilek woman with bright orange-yellow skin stood, her arms folded as she quirked her hairless brow at him.

"So, did you deal with that sick punk or what?" she snapped irritably as the Deveronian came up to her

"He's not dead, if that's what you're wondering Nima" he smirked holding up his phaser. "I handed his ass back over to Jabba. Apparently, the slug's not too happy that he let another slave escape his clutches and wants to deal with him personally."

"Does he know that we have the kid?" Nima narrowed her eyes.

"He does. Don't worry" the Deveronian added quickly "I managed to convince him to let us keep her as a third of our pay"

"You mean to tell me that you docked off a third of our earnings, so you could keep a kid? Scud's going to be overjoyed when he hears this" Nima rolled her eyes. "Listen I know you've got a soft spot for kids but, we're hunters, not babysitters playing house-"

"I know." The Deveronain cut across her, his expression now grim "But I just couldn't let this one go back there to Jabba. Not this time. She's not like the others"

The twi'lek's face softened as understanding seemed to dawn.

"I see. Well, it's going to be interesting explaining this to the rest of the crew but I'll try-"

"No. I'll do it. Besides it's better if it comes from me. But first, a bath"

"Yeah because believe it or not you really stink" Nima smirked and this time it was the Deveronian's turn to roll his eyes.

"Ha-ha very funny"

* * *

"FINALLY!" Una gasped in relief as finally, the Bongo broke the surface of the water.

When the strange membrane like windows suddenly retracted she all but leapt up to her feet, embracing the sudden bright light of the sun and the fresh cool sea breeze. A far cry from the monster filled dark underwater world they'd just left.

Una had to admit they were lucky they all got out of it in one piece, especially since the ship already had one power outage when they were submerged.

"Ooh, this is luverly" Jar-Jar nodded approvingly as he and the two Jedi looked around.

They appeared to be on the outside of a large sea-side city. Everything was lush, green peaceful, and beautiful.

Had Obi-Wan come at any other time he might have loved to have found a nice quiet spot to meditate here. Unfortunately, this fantasy was quickly scrapped as he caught sight of the large tops of a Trade Federation tank in the distance between two buildings.

"Master look." He pointed to the tanks.

"They've already taken the city" Qui-Gon frowned worriedly "Quick, steer us closer. We need to get to the palace fast and find the queen."

"Of course, Master" Obi-Wan nodded.

"the Queen?" Una frowned as the Bongo was steered over towards what appeared to be a tiny wooden pier close by.

"Our mission was to protect the Queen's interests in the Trade Dispute" Qui-Gon explained as he and Jar-Jar both hopped up onto the small wooden pier.

"And let me guess. Right now she's _interested_ in staying alive." Una finished as she followed his lead, inspecting her stolen black blaster. She hoped it still worked after her swim to the Gungan city.

"For one walking into the midst of an invasion, you seem quite calm" _Now._ Obi-Wan added in his head, amusedly remembering her small yelp of fright during the Monster-fish attack.

"Of course. Now I get to use those tin-can droids for target practice" Una raised an eyebrow as she ignored his gentlemanly hand, and hoisted herself up onto the pier.

They were quick to sneak into the city, carefully ducking and dodging squads of droids that marched along the streets.

Some were just patrol squads, but some were escorting groups of people at gunpoint.

Una felt her heart twinge a little with pity as she watched a pair of young children cling to their parent's sides as they passed by her groups hiding place. They looked so small, helpless and scared-

"Master" Obi-Wan balked forwards, horrified at the sight of the fear and terror in the people's faces. Even Jar-Jar was quiet, as shock overtook his entire being.

"I know." Qui-Gon murmured sadly as he watched the small family and the other prisoners vanish out of sight around a corner.

"You two done sightseeing? Because we're just wastin' our credits sitting on our asses here." Una snapped waspishly as she prepped her blaster.

Obi-Wan stared at her in disbelief.

"These people are suffering, and all you can think about is your credits?!"

She rolled her eyes.

"It's a figure of speech. And I hate to be the bitch that bursts your bubble junior, but this is what war looks like. It's not pretty, it's not fair, and sometimes you can't do anything about it except move on and get on with your own business. I'm sorry but that's how it is!"

"I'm afraid she is right Obi-Wan." Qui-Gon agreed solemnly as he straightened up "We can't do anything to help them now, not without endangering them further. The only thing we can do is save the Queen and figure out a way to stop all this at the source"

"What he said. Now come on the palace is this way." Una jerked her thumb as she carefully stepped out into the street, her black ponytail whipping Obi-Wan in the face as she roughly shouldered her way past him.

"Calm yourself Obi-Wan" Qui-Gon smirked as he watched his Padawan bristle "She's acting tough, but she is just as worried as you are by this turn of events. Perhaps even more so, seeing as she worked for the Trade Federation"

"Sorry master…she just…she's a frustrating personcreature to deal with." Obi-Wan glanced away from his Master slightly ashamed by his lapse in control.

"Frustration is often born from misunderstanding my Padawan." Qui-Gon nodded gently "Life as a Bounty Hunter isn't easy. She must wearwears her attitude like armour to protect herself. But give her time and patience and you might find she's not quite as heartless as she likes to think herself"

"Of course Master" Obi-Wan nodded though he didn't look too convinced as they followed the bounty hunter deeper into the heart of the city.

Their going was slow, but quite informative for Qui-Gon as he watched the Bounty Hunter manoeuvre her way between the buildings. For all her rough and tough attitude, she was quite smooth and fluid in her movements. She barely even made a sound as she snuck through shadows, blaster at the ready to shoot. Then there were her eyes, calmly calculating everything in sight as her ears pricked for the subtlest of sounds. Such movements didn't come naturally to just anyone, even if they were force sensitive. She had been trained and trained well.

Then just as they were approaching the outskirts of the palace grounds, she stiffened and stilled in her spot, holding Jar-Jar back roughly so that he didn't stumble out into the open path of the elevated walkway.

Qui-Gon quickly realized why as he felt the hairs on the back of his own neck suddenly stand on end.

 _Someone is coming towards us. I think it might be the queen._

He heard Obi-Wan say through their mental link.

 _I think so too._

Qui-Gon agreed as he felt around for the source of the disturbance in the Force. And sure enough there just below them on the main street, a group of people were being escorted by a small armed squad of battle droids.

They were unlike any of the people they'd so far seen in custody. There were several palace security guards (unarmed) surrounding a group of elderly looking men of importance and some young women. Most of the women wore orange and yellow hooded robes, while the one in the middle of them was dressed in elaborate stately robes of black with a black feathered headdress and a starkly white painted face.

With a silent nod between the three of them, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon all leapt down from on high, stunning the droids and their captives.

They were quick to slice through the droids in the front while Una took a sniper's position from their hiding place and swiftly shot the ones at the back.

"Wha-oh!" Jar-Jar Binks cried out in alarm. In all the excitement of the action, he had tried to jump down after the Jedi, only to start dangling off the railing of the pathway.

"Oh shut up! You'll be fine." Una rolled her eyes as she prized the gungan's webbed fingers from the railing.

Despite landing clumsily on the ground below, he was otherwise unscathed.

"Whoa! You guys are Bombad!"

 _By the Gods he is annoying._

Una groaned as she straightened up and peered over the edge.

"Everyone okay down there?"

"We're fine." Qui-Gon nodded towards her just as one of the guards, a tall man with dark skin and a stern face, urgently gestured to his men.

"Get their weapons"

 _At least someone brought their brains to work today._

Una snorted as she quietly slipped down the stairs that led off the bridge and helped the Jedi usher the large party off the streets and into a small alleyway.

"We're Ambassadors for the Supreme Chancellor" Qui-Gon said, calm voice laced with urgency.

"Your negotiations seemed to have failed, Master" An elderly man said from his place beside the young queen.

"The negotiations never took place. It's urgent we make contact with the republic"

"They've knocked out all our communications" the head of the guards spoke fiercely as he strode up towards them.

"It wouldn't be much use to you even if you could get a working com unit" Una shook her head "They'd have droids monitoring every frequency going on and off the planet day and night"

"In that case we'll need to make the message personal. Do you have transports?" Qui-Gon asked swiftly and the guard captain nodded, pointing to one of the side alleys.

"In the main hangar. This way"

They were quick to sneak around the sides of the palace, the guards directing them through a side door and into the large building.

They quickly hurried down the small corridors, only stopping when they had to duck and hide from small droid patrol groups. Una was amazed at just how complacent the Trade Federation were in their victory.

If she had just taken over the planet she would have kept the Queen close by her side at or under the heaviest guard always.

 _Just how in this galaxy did these lazy-ass Nemoidians ever get this far._

She rolled her eyes to herself as she and the head guard, who had introduced himself to her as Panaka, dashed up to a gap in the main hangar door.

"How's it looking in there?" Panaka asked swiftly.

"Not good. Nearly all the pilots have been rounded up, and their weapons have been collected." Una said stiffly, uncomfortably aware of the fearful anxious faces all turned in her direction.

Panaka quickly peered around the door to see the situation for himself and cursed softly.

"Damn it! There are too many of them!"

"They won't be a problem" Qui-Gon frowned as he turned towards the Queen "Your Highness, under the circumstances, I suggest you come to Coruscant with us."

"Thank you, Ambassador, but my place is with my people" the Queen clipped in a tone that was professional and cold, though her eyes betrayed a glimmer of fear in them that only grew as the Jedi master said:

"They will kill you if you stay"

"They wouldn't dare" one of the old politicians puffed up indignantly and Panaka grimaced grimly.

"They need her to sign a treaty to make this invasion legal. They can't afford to kill her."

"There is something else behind all this, your Highness. There's no logic in the Federation's move here. My feelings tell me they will destroy you." Qui-Gon whispered urgently, and the old politician nodded in earnest.

"Our only hope is for the Senate to side with us. Senator Palpatine will need your help"

"Either choice presents great danger…to us all" the Queen quickly turned to a handmaid right beside her, and it seemed to Una almost as if-wait! Was she seeking permission to speak?

 _But surely the queen would be able to call the shots without opposition so why-unless…_

"We are brave your highness" the handmaid looked the queen very steadily in the eye, without a hint of hesitation or submission.

Una quickly glanced at Qui-Gon, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards as he caught her eye and gave a small tilt of the head as he said:

"if we are to leave your Highness, it must be now"

"Then I will plead our case to the senate" the _Queen_ nodded to the Jedi firmly.

"and we better do that fast because I can hear a patrol coming" Una hissed.

"Good luck Governor" the Queen said to the old man as Una and Panaka and a couple of guards quickly ushered them into the hangar, with the Jedi striding in calmly at the front.

"We need to free those pilots" Panaka hissed quietly, pointing at the pilots who all sat in a small group on the floor, surrounded by armed droids.

"I'll deal with them." Obi-Wan swiftly left his master's side to quietly creep along the wall, only just in time.

"Halt" a droid with a yellow capped head stopped in front of them.

"I'm ambassador to the supreme chancellor. I'm taking these people to Coruscant" Qui-Gon spoke calmly but Una saw his hand motion to her behind his back.

Una prepped her gun, stepping in front of the young handmaidens so that her body obscured theirs from the droids view, even as the droid spoke again.

"Where are you taking them?"

"To Coruscant"

"Coruscant ? Uh…that doesn't compute. Uh, wait, uh you're under arres-"

The girls behind Una's back all squeaked in fright and alarm as she fired her blaster.

PEW-PEW-PEW!

The three shots were dead on point as they hit three of the droids behind the yellow capped captain, which was promptly cut in half by Qui-Gon. At the same moment, Obi-Wan leapt out from behind some crates he'd been hiding behind and started slicing through the droids that stood guard around the pilots.

"Get on the ship! Let's go-go-go!" Una grabbed at one of the handmaids and pushed her towards the ramp of a large sleek silver spacecraft. As she did so, several blaster shots came flashing her way, only to miss as Qui-Gon deflected them with his lightsabre.

Quickly she used his cover to aim a few well aimed shots at a group of droids that had rushed in through the hangar doors blasters at the ready. One of them hit the engines of one of the smaller yellow fighter ships, making it explode with a large fiery plume of black smoke. It wasn't the biggest explosion she'd seen, but it was more than enough to wipe out the patrol group off the face of the earth.

With a small grin to herself she quickly hopped onto the ramp of the silver Nubian spacecraft, just as most of the pilots rushed aboard.

 _Okay, so that's the queen, the guards, the maids, Jar-Jar and the pilots on board. Now, who are we missing?_

"COME ON YOU TWO! GET ON!" she yelled as she caught sight of the Jedi Master and Padawan still swiping through the last of the droid guards.

At the sound of her yell they were quick to back their way up onto the ramp, Obi-Wan sparing her a scowl as she aimed a shot at a droid that whizzed only an inch away from his ear.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you were trying to kill me." he sniped waspishly.

"Once again Junior, if I wanted to kill you I would've done so by now." Una rolled her eyes as they all finally dashed into the ship, which chose at that moment to finally start speeding forwards.

"Una come with me to the cockpit. Obi-Wan get Jar-Jar somewhere he won't cause trouble then meet us there. Now" Qui-Gon barked as he began to jog down the sleek interior of the ship.

There was a pause in which both Bounty Hunter and Padawan glared at one another, before turning their backs on one another without another word.

 _Just what is his deal!_

Una groaned in her head as she dashed after Qui-Gon's path, doing her best to ignore the sick feeling creeping up in her stomach as their craft jolted slightly in its ascent from Naboo's atmosphere.

It didn't take them long to reach the cockpit, a small but neatly designed space in which a couple of pilots and Panaka were all standing or sitting at various spaces.

"There's the blockade" the main pilot called out, and Una gulped as she looked out the viewport windows, through which she could see all the Trade Federation control ships twinkling out from between the black stars.

"How in the galaxy are we gonna get out of this?" she wondered aloud, running a hand over her forehead.

"By trusting the force young one" Qui-Gon murmured wincing as the ship juddered suddenly, thanks to the large beams of energy being fired at them from the much larger blockade ships.

"Yeah, I don't think the force is gonna be much help now" she breathed, panic sinking in as another blast hit the ship and a red warning light suddenly started going off.

"What's going on? What happened?" Obi-Wan cried out as he ran through the cockpit door.

"The Shield Generator's been hit!" the main pilot cried out as he flicked on an emergency switch. At once the red alert sirens began blaring and it wasn't long before several small astrodroid were seen sliding over the ships outer hull.

But even with their assistance they were still getting hammered heavily.

"Crap! This is bad" Una hissed stumbling as with another great shudder, the ship was hit, the shot blasting two of the small droids off the damaged spot they'd been working.

"We're losing droids fast" Obi-Wan winced as she bumped backwards into him.

"If we can't get the shield generator fixed we'll be sitting ducks" Panaka narrowed his eyes at the small screen of video feed, just in time to see one more droid get blasted off.

Now there was only one astrodroid left. A little silver, blue and white model with a round domed top.

"The Shields are gone" the pilot sighed, almost in defeat, only to start as suddenly something green flashed on his screen.

"the power's back! That little droid did it!" he exclaimed in joy as the readings on his once red screen suddenly blinked back to normal.

"He bypassed the main powerdrive?" Una breathed a huge sigh of relief as she checked the ships systems over the pilot's shoulders.

"Deflector shields up at maximum" he called out, as he steered the ship over the top of one of the Trade Federation ships and beyond it's strange donut shape.

"And we're out" Una smiled, laughing as the ship increased its speed and sped away out of the larger craft's range. "Thank heavens for that"

"Don't get too happy just yet." The pilot's smile dropped as he once again checked his readings "There's still not enough power to get us to Coruscant. The Hyperdrive is leaking"

"We need to land somewhere to refuel and repair" Qui-Gon folded his arms and turned to his Padawan who had taken a seat at the navigations station towards the back of the cockpit.

"Here Master, Tatooine. Small, out of the way, poor. The Trade Federation have no presence there." He pointed out a planet that had appeared on his screen.

"How can you be sure?" Panaka scowled sceptically.

"It's controlled by the Hutts" Qui-Gon explained, calmly eyeing the guard captain as he promptly exploded.

"You can't take Her Royal Highness there! The Hutts are gangsters. If they discovered her-"

"It'd be no different than if we landed in a world controlled by the Federation, except that the Hutts aren't looking for her which gives us the advantage."

"That all depends"

All eyes turned to face Una, who had sunk low into a seat opposite Obi-Wan, her face slightly green. God how she hated flying.

"Depends on what?" Qui-Gon asked patiently.

"On how much of a bounty the Trade Federation puts on your precious Queen's head." Una grunted as she leaned forwards to bend her head low over her knees. "You said they need the her to sign the treaty. Well now she's escaped the planet, I wouldn't be surprised if the Trade Federation started sending out other bounty hunters or assassins after us to get her back before we make it to Coruscant. As many of the better bounty hunters in the Outer Rim are in Jabba's pocket, you can guarantee the great slug himself would be very interested in using her to get a foothold in the Federation's bank accounts. And you know how Hutts are, once they get their slimy tails through the door it's hard to shove them out."

"So you agree, it's too dangerous to land there?" Panaka insisted doggedly, only for his face to fall as Una straightened up and shook her head.

"Normally I would've but given the state of the ship and the level of laziness of the Trade Federation has just shown, the Old Man is right. Hiding under the Hutt's noses is the safest option right now. And besides Tatooine has a lot of decent junk dealers, so repairing the damage to our ship shouldn't be too difficult if we have something worth bartering. Even so, we must be careful of what kind of impression we make on the locals."

"You sound familiar with the planet, have you been there before?" Obi-Wan looked interestedly from his seat.

"A couple of times and let's just say it's not a nice place for a picnic. It's hot, dusty, filled with slaves, scumbags and the sand gets _everywhere_ " she groaned. Now that she was sitting down she could feel the exhaustion creeping up on her.

So much had happened within the span of a few hours, it was amazing she was still awake to snort at Panaka's raised eyebrows.

"Now if you excuse me…I gotta go to the bathroom and puke"

And with that she ran out of the room, cheeks green and bulging.

The four men stared after her, Obi-Wan's face splitting into a smirk of amusement.

"Space sick" he smirked in response to his master's silent question.

"I never knew such a thing still existed" Panaka snorted and the pilot chuckled.

"Oh it does. You'd be surprised how many novice pilots I've seen throw up at their consoles on their first flights."

"But she's not a pilot, is she?" Panaka narrowed his eyes at Qui-Gon who shook his head.

"No she is not. Una's a Bounty Hunter, she was hired by the Trade Federation"

"Bounty Hunter? Hmm…that explains a lot… how did she end up with you two?" Panaka frowned suspiciously.

"The Trade Federation double crossed her and tried to illegally enslave her rather than pay her for the job. In return for our protection she offered to help us secure the Queen and give information on her assignments for the Federation"

"A Bounty Hunter doing pro-bono work for Jedi? Now I've seen it all" Panaka rolled his eyes as the pilot beside him chuckled.

"Well you know how the saying goes, one way or another, a Bounty Hunter always gets his or her due. I'm just surprised she's not turning us in to the Trade Federation for the credits"

"Hear, hear" Obi-Wan muttered quietly under his breath, earning himself a small disapproving glare from his master.

"It is true we have not known Una Crest for very long, but from what I have seen from my observations she is a woman of honour." Qui-Gon said quietly, his voice stern as he addressed the room at large. "and I feel that if we do right by her she could be an indispensable ally in the days to come. We should trust her judgement especially if we might have to deal with other hunters on our tail."

"If you say so." Panaka shrugged as he stood to his feet. "But I'll reserve my judgement for when the queen decides what to do. Speaking of which, she and her handmaids should be settled in by now. I should check on them."

"Of course." Qui-Gon nodded.

Panaka quickly left the cockpit, and the pilot turned back to his controls with a cough.

"I suggest you two and your hunter friend all get settled in as well. It's gonna be a few hours till we reach Tatooine."

"What about you?" Obi-Wan frowned concernedly, but the man waved him off.

"I'll be fine. I'll call on one of the other pilots to relieve me if I'm tired. You might as well get some rest. You'll need it"

"We will. Thank you, friend, may the force be with you" Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan both gave a small but polite bow to the man before exiting the cockpit.

* * *

Padme heaved a great sigh as she strode around the narrow corridors of the Nubian ship. She was still dressed in her orange and yellow robes, her entire body sweating and shivering underneath, vestiges of the immense stress she'd just experienced barely an hour ago.

She knew she shouldn't be wandering around the ship alone, but she also knew that if she didn't have a moment to herself where she could just splash her face she'd flip out.

She loved the water. The feel of its cool touch always soothed her, calmed her.

She had only walked a few paces down the narrow ship corridor when she came across an open door to her right. Quietly as she dared, she looked inside and stopped short as she caught sight of the woman hunched coughing and retching over a toilet bowl.

She had dark hair, tied back in a practical cornrow ponytail and she was wearing a form fitting jumpsuit under a dark red jacket. She certainly didn't look like a Naboo pilot, and she was not one of the Queen's handmaidens, her muscular toned arms alone were proof enough.

And yet for all her strength, here she was, throwing up over a toilet?

"Sorry" the woman mumbled as she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror like wall of the small restroom. "couldn't close the door in time"

"No-no, it's alright. I was just passing by." Padme gulped as she felt her face be scanned by a pair of catlike amber eyes. "Are you alright? Do you need me to get help or-"

She was cut off by the woman shaking her head.

"No need. I'm almost done here anyway. Got nothing more to throw up now" the woman added softly to herself with a snort, only to wince as she stumbled clumsily to her feet.

Padme's expression softened with pity as she caught sight of the slightly shaking fingers and the paleness of the skin.

"Why don't we get you some water. You look like you could use a drink" she reached down and gently as she could, helped pull the woman up to stand.

"Your highness, if I'm going to get a drink, I think it's gonna have to be something stronger than water" the woman's smirk widened considerably as Padme's cheeks flushed scarlet.

"What the-how did you-?" Padme spluttered.

"A slave may seek approval for their actions, but a real master would call the shots without hesitation." Una spoke dully, quirking a brow at the young queen who swelled up indignantly.

"Sabe is not my slave. Nor would she ever-"

"Wow you core-worlders really are uptight. It's just an expression" Una rolled her eyes as she prized herself from the younger girl and steadied herself on her feet. "If your girls are going to cover for you they've got to play their parts better. No real Queen would ever look to their handmaids for permission to go ahead with a plan, at least not in public"

"You seem to know a lot about monarchs" Padme frowned, cheeks still slightly pink.

"Not really, I just know a lot about people in general. Now your highness, are we going to get that drink or what?"

"You haven't even told me your name" Padme scowled, her cheeks still a flustered shade of pink.

"It's Una. Una Crest" Una held out a gloved hand and Padme took it, hesitantly, marvelling at how much larger and stronger the other woman's hands were in comparison to her own.

"Padme. Padme Naberrie"

"Well Padme, let's go see where we can get us some drinks" Una smiled. Padme was a small timid looking girl, but she could see the fire behind those warm brown eyes.

 _That's good._

Una thought grimly as she let the girl steer her out of the bathroom.

 _If I'm right and things get ugly, she'll need all the spunk she can get._

* * *

The Nemoidians in the councilroom all shivered as the hologram of a dark robed figure stared them down from where it hovered at the head of the table.

"-And Queen Amidala, has she signed the treaty?"

The Grand Viceroy of the Trade Federation, gulped nervously.

"She has, disappeared My Lord. One Naboo Cruiser got past the blockade"

The Viceroy bowed his head in terror as the dark hooded hologram suddenly sucked in a sharp breath.

"I want that treaty signed" the figure snapped.

"My Lord, it's impossible to locate the ship it's out of our range." The Viceroy pleaded only to quake even more in his slimy boots as the dark lord sneered.

"Not for the Sith"

There was a gasp from the Viceroy and his deputy as they drew back from the hologram, where another figure had appeared.

He was tall and garbed in dark hooded robes like the dark lord seated next to him. But unlike the seated man, his face was clear for all to see.

Crimson red with jet black jagged tattoos and piercing yellow eyes. He was a menacing figure to behold, not simply because of his demonic appearance, but more so because of the calm, cold calculated stare he fixed the two nemoidians. A snake calculating which mouse to pounce at first even as the dark lord hissed:

"This is my apprentice Darth Maul. He will find your lost ship"

* * *

 **Hey guys, me the author again.**

 **So a lot happened in this chapter. I figured Una would catch onto Padme's decoy quite quickly. After all she does hunt people down for a living, she'd know when someone's faking it. And now Maul's entered the scene things should get a little more interesting.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed reading chapter 3 of the Bounty Hunters Tale and please review for more**

 **Cheers**

 **FuzzyBeta**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 – The Sands of Time**

"Hello there"

The tiny little girl on the small grey cot looked up, amber eyes widening with fear as she beheld the tall rust skinned Deveronian that was poking his head through the doorway.

Despite his overall demonic appearance (that was common amongst the males of his species) his eyes were gentle and his smile was friendly. Still the girl wasn't too sure.

She'd seen many people give her friendly smiles before, only for them to literally kick her a few seconds later for their own amusement.

Almost as if guessing her thoughts, the Deveronian sighed.

"Still afraid of me huh? it's the horns isn't it, they always scare people" he smirked and was pleased to see the girl's body relax ever so slightly as she saw he wasn't angry.

"May I come in? Don't worry, it's just Bantha milk" he added holding up a small lidded cup she had been eyeing in his hands suspiciously.

After a few long seconds of deliberation, the girl nodded, lips pursed.

She did not trust this man, but so far he had done nothing to really harm her, aside from painlessly knocking her out before bringing her to his ship. After that a mustard-skinned Twi'lek, with some faint light orange tattooed Leku, had gently tended to her as she had woken up.

The girl had liked the Twi'lek. She had seen many Twi'lek's in the halls of the pleasure houses she'd been forced to scrub. Most of them were slaves like her, and treated her kindly, or at least, as kindly as they could, given the weight of their own situations.

But if the Twi'lek was friends with this man then perhaps he wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

"An extremely well-put-together little droid, Your Highness. Without a doubt, it saved the ship, as well as our lives."

Una watched, smirking as the tiny silver and blue astromech droid whirred to a stop beside Captain Panaka.

"It is to be commended." The very fake Queen smiled as she sat in the small throne room at the rear of the ship. "What is its number?"

There were a couple of beeps and whirrs from the tiny machine as it turned to show off its identification to Panaka.

"Artoo-Deetoo, your Highness"

"Thank you Artoo-Deetoo." The fake queen smiled and nodded to her left where Una noticed the real queen standing, still dressed in her handmaid's clothes. "Padme, clean this droid up as best you can. It deserves our gratitude"

Una had to admit, Padme was good at playing the submissive servant, however the determination and strength in her eyes as she looked down on the whistling droid, were a dead giveaway to those that bothered to looking hard enough.

 _And if it's noticeable to me then these two certainly must know what she's up to._

Una glanced towards the two Jedi beside her. They were calm and quiet throughout the whole proceedings even as Panaka turned to face them when his fake queen demanded news.

"Your Highness, with your permission we're heading for a remote planet called Tatooine. It's in a system far beyond the reach of the Trade Federation." Qui-Gon stepped forwards not even batting an eye when Panaka scowled at him.

"I do not agree with the Jedi on this"

"You must trust my judgement, your Highness."

The fake queen paused in thought, but Una thought she saw the slightest waver in her countenance as she spared Padme a quick glance before turning to face-

"Una Crest, what have you to say on the matter?"

Una blinked. She had only come as an accessory to the Jedi's report, she had not expected any of the spotlight to fall on her for judgement. She didn't know whether to be flattered or terrified that her opinion was being considered at all. Great at her job though she was, she was still just a hunter and not a Jedi or royal. It was not her place to dabble in such matters.

 _Get a grip Una, they're just people like everyone else. If they don't like what you have to say they can go jump._

She sucked in a deep breath.

"While it pains me to say this, and by god, I really cannot believe I am ever saying it," she grunted rolling her eyes to herself "I agree with the Jedi. We need a place to lie low, but also a place to repair and refuel. Tattooine is one of the few places in the outer rim we'll be able to do that without hopefully attracting too much attention. If anyone does notice our ship it will most likely be assumed that it was stolen or it's a rich black market fat-cat's pleasure ship, which I suggest should be our excuse if anyone should come knocking on our front door."

"A what?" Panaka's nostrils widened, positively incensed by the thought as the handmaids, Padme included, all stifled a small giggle. Even Obi-Wan had to swallow down a small smirk of amusement.

"You all laugh now, but I am dead serious" Una raised her eyebrows coolly at all of them. "Apart from the damage it's taken, this ship is so shiny and brand new that it still stinks of rich people. No one is going to believe we're just simple folk wanting a quick fix before jumping planet. We may be on a planet where people don't know us or what is going on, but we still need to keep a low profile."

"Indeed, which is why I suggest we land on the outskirts, try to keep away from as many prying eyes as possible while I or my padawan go into town and look for the parts we need to repair the ship." Qui-Gon nodded to the fake queen, who pursed her lips.

"Alright, but won't people be wondering why there's a shiny polished ship stranded in the middle of the desert"

"She's got a point" Obi-Wan muttered under his breath.

"Perhaps Your Highness. But it is a risk we must take." Qui-Gon assured her, glancing at Una who explained:

"If we land in one of the spaceport docks there is a chance our ship might be logged into a system and if it's logged into a system we can get tracked if someone tries to come looking for us. I mean, I don't feel comfortable stranding ourselves in the desert, but we can just say we had no choice and ran out of juice to make it."

The fake queen nodded gravely as considered her one and only option. It wasn't a very reassuring plan but it was all they could come up within a short space of time. She looked up at her true queen who was still standing dutifully by Artoo-Deetoo.

Upon catching her eye, she gave her a small nod, indicating her resolve.

The fake Queen sighed softly to herself as she turned back to her captain, the two Jedi and the strange bounty hunter and said:

"Very well. We shall do as you have suggested Master Jedi."

"Thank you, your highness." The Jedi bowed, ignoring Panaka who was looking grim and unsure still.

"I still don't think if this is a good idea." He muttered darkly to himself before bowing as well "I'll go inform the pilots of our plan"

"Well, at least that's sorted out. Your Highness, ladies" Una bobbed her head respectfully to the fake queen, sparing Padme a small knowing smirk as she passed her by on the way out the door behind the two Jedi, who were already discussing plans for landing.

"You should go into the town master to get the parts. I'll stay here and help the crew repair whatever I can" Obi-Wan was quick to suggest.

"Good Idea. Besides you're better with engineering than I am. It'll help the work go faster. Perhaps you too should stay behind Una." Qui-Gon added glancing back at the bounty hunter as she jogged to catch up. "This ship will need all the security it can get"

"With all due respect Old Man but I don't follow your orders. Besides if there's anyone who should go into town to get the parts it should be me. Bounty Hunters are always dropping in and out of scrap heaps like this for spare parts, my presence wouldn't be too suspicious"

Qui-Gon frowned stroking his beard. It wasn't that he didn't trust the young woman. On the contrary she had proven a most useful ally, and her current idea made sense to him. But he had the sneaking suspicion that she was often, a magnet for trouble, even if she didn't actively seek it out. Her incident with the Trade Federation was living proof of that. The last thing he needed was her getting herself into more trouble that could come and hunt the rest of them down. But they didn't really have a choice…

"Alright. How about this. You and I both go into town with Jar-Jar but we move about separately to cover more ground. Then once the day is done we meet at a specified rendezvous point and return to the ship. Agreed?" He suggested.

Una thought for a moment. She still thought her plan was better, but he would cover more ground and be faster in the long term, and they were desperately running short on time.

"Alright. We do it your way but don't think for one second, I'll be babysitting your Gungan friend. You brought him along, so you can look after him. I'll work the backstreet dealers on my own and see what I can find."

"I suppose that is fair" Qui-Gon conceded, despite his Padawan's scowl.

"But Master-"

"And while you work the back streets you can keep in contact with Obi-Wan while he repairs the ship with the engineers. That way you can get any other spare parts they might need"

"Works for me" Una turned to snort smugly at Obi-Wan "What's the matter, Junior? This the first time you've exchanged digits with a woman?"

"No though it might be the last" Obi-Wan sighed as he did his best to reign in his exasperation with the infuriating female that stalked her way past him.

"It would appear as if she's warming up to you" Qui-Gon smirked as she turned a corner.

"If by warming up you mean she's becoming even more insufferable" Obi-Wan muttered and his mentor chuckled.

"Now, now my padawan what did I say earlier?"

"Patience is key to understanding. But master you can't expect her to follow through on this?"

"And why not? She's followed through on everything else so far." His master raised his eyebrows down at him. "She could've easily betrayed us at the palace and delivered us to the Viceroy where she could've used us to barter a new price for her services. But she didn't. She stayed true to her word, even though our offer was less than what she feels she deserves. Besides she might offer some different intel than what we can find for ourselves, like she said, a bounty hunter isn't an anomaly in this type of spaceport."

There was a silence as Obi-Wan folded his arms into his robe sleeves, unable to find any room for argument. His master was right of course but he still didn't like it.

"…I should check on the mechanics down in the hold. See if I can get started on repairs" he muttered, quickly bobbing his head respectfully before making his way down the corridor, following Una's footsteps.

"That would be best yes" Qui-Gon's smirk fell slightly as he felt something shift in the air around him. It was small and barely perceptible to most normal people but thanks to years of training he felt it acutely like a tiny invisible mosquito bite.

He frowned as he searched through the force for the source of the shift. He wasn't that surprised to find it was coming from the direction Una had wandered off to.

He couldn't see what she was doing, but he could feel her thoughts, shifting around uncomfortably. She seemed to be analysing detail after detail of her current predicament.

One thought that seemed to prevail above all the rest was the idea of what to do if somehow the Trade Federation, or one of their paid goons, found them. He could sense her quickly formulating several plans, some that would save only her own skin and leave them to face the wolves, but the ones that she mulled over the most involved her getting all of them off the planet safely with the ship intact.

He had to admit he was impressed by how well she methodically organized and catalogued the information, keeping it separated from her fear, which she seemed to have put away into a corner of her mind so she could focus.

That was until he felt her jolt of recognition jar everything else.

He quickly pulled out of her thoughts, collecting himself swiftly so as to not attract suspicion as he quietly slid past a couple of the Queen's young handmaids who were talking in hushed tones on their way to prepare their mistress for the day.

This was turning out to be a more interesting mission than he first thought.

Una was already well and truly off the ship by the time Qui-Gon had gotten dressed and had picked up Jar-Jar from the hold.

She wasn't sure whether she wanted to hang around the strange old man or his snarky protégé now. That strange sensation of Qui-Gon seeming to poke into her thoughts was eerie as it stood. She'd heard from Slyde that Jedi or "force users" as he'd called them, were capable of reading and manipulating minds.

But what freaked her out wasn't the fact he'd been able to get inside her head. It was the fact that she'd been able to feel him do that and that she knew, without a doubt that it was him doing the poking around.

She'd always been a perceptive person. Slyde and her old crew had often commented on how unnervingly spot on her intuition was at times. Sometimes it even freaked herself out just how accurately she could predict a situation before it even happened.

She wiped her brow of sweat as she stood under the shade of the silver spaceship, her mind racing as she was brought back to a faint memory from barely two years ago.

She'd been in a cantina with Slyde, keeping an eye out for an informant who was supposed to help them find their bounty. They'd been relaxing over a couple of drinks, joking on who would win the Cantina's local Death-pool. She couldn't remember exactly what she'd said, but two days later she and Slyde came back to the same Cantina to celebrate a job well done, when the barkeep told them that everything she had said would happen, had happened, exactly as she said it would.

At the time she'd chalked it up to being coincidence and a fluke of fate. But now she wasn't so sure…

She looked up at the twin suns above her, relieved that she had decided to remove one of the extra thermal layers she wore underneath her bodysuit. Just her luck she was stuck on this godforsaken dust ball.

She looked up as Qui-Gon walked down the Naboo cruiser ramp. He'd switched his brown hooded robes for a rough worn out looking poncho to cover his white Jedi tunic. Close behind him trailed the small blue and silver droid Artoo-Deetoo and the clumsy form of Jar-Jar, who looked if possible even more nervous than normal. But then again, he was rather out of his element in the middle of this vast ocean of sand.

"I'll walk with you to the edges of the outskirts and then I'll split. It won't look good for me if I'm seen with you guys. The last thing I need is for the locals to think I'm a softie" She nodded at the Jedi who nodded back in understanding.

While her words seemed rather rude at first, he could see the logic in them. While half her job was secured by her physical capabilities, the other half relied heavily on image. As a human woman, she wasn't nearly as visually threatening as some of her other contemporaries in the field. If anything, if Qui-Gon had only passed her in the street when she wasn't putting on a front he might've thought her just another face in the crowd.

"Why did you do it?" she asked as they began to walk away from the ship. "prod into the back of my head?"

"How do you know it was I prodding your mind?" Qui-Gon muttered holding a hand up to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun on the pale sands about them.

"I don't know" Una admitted through gritted teeth "I just know it felt like you"

"I was curious about the way you think," Qui-Gon said softly. "Balancing emotion and logic isn't an easy thing for most and yet you manage to do so with ease. Even Obi-Wan has trouble finding the balance sometimes and he's been trained in the Jedi Order all his life"

"Yeah well, you can't afford to let emotions rule you when you're on the job" Una snorted "Especially when lives are at stake. If I were to let my anger at the scum get in the way of a job I'd have the largest bounty on my own head by now"

There was a small pause, only punctured by Jar-Jar's complaints and groans.

"Dis sun doin' murder to misa skin"

"Wait!" a voice shouted, and the small group turned to watch as Captain Panaka strode up towards them from the ship, accompanied by the petite dainty form of Padme.

She was wearing a plain blue tunic and pants with brown boots and a brown vest. Her hair was braided back from her face letting her pale unblemished features shine in the hot sun.

She squinted around at them all in the bright sunlight as she and Panaka finally caught up with them.

"Wait. Her Highness commands you to take her handmaiden with you"

"Does she now?" Una smirked at Padme who glanced down at the ground, ears slightly pink (though not because of the suns' heat).

Qui-Gon, however, wasn't so amused.

"No more commands from her highness today Captain. This spaceport is not going to be pleasant"

"The Queen wishes it. She's curious about the planet" Panaka insisted and as he said it Padme looked up with a bright determined spark in her blue eyes.

"I still don't think this is a good idea" Qui-Gon sighed darkly into his beard as he beckoned to the younger girl to join them reluctantly "Stay close to Una or me"

Padme nodded obediently, relieved that she'd overcome that first hurdle.

"Don't worry Captain. We'll bring her back in one piece" Una assured a rather nervous looking Panaka, who nodded once in thanks before turning on his heel and striding back fast the way he came.

Once he was out of earshot, Padme was quick to blurt out.

"So how far is it to the settlement?"

"A couple of miles according to the scans" Qui-Gon pointed over the nearby dunes. "But I warn you, it probably won't be a pleasant sight"

"Yeah and speaking of pleasant," Una jerked her head to the ground and Qui-Gon paused mid-step.

She pointed to the ground just in front of where he would have stepped where a long line of humanoid footprints was embedded deep in the sand.

"A well-trodden path. Perhaps the locals use it on trips into the desert" Qui-Gon frowned as they paused to examine it.

"If by locals you mean the Sand People then yeah. They use it." Una muttered darkly.

"Sand people?" Padme looked up at her curiously.

"Indigenous tribes of Tatooine. Very secretive, very violent." Una explained, her face grim "I've only seen them from a distance when I last came here years ago, but from what I've heard at the spaceports they aren't very friendly. They hunt the desert in guerrilla groups, mainly at twilight or night, killing off any poor soul that happens to be stranded there."

"by killen' yousa mean uh…" Jar-Jar gulped, slowly sliced a line across his throat with his finger and for once Una agreed with him.

"You can say that again. And considering the depth of these indentations, there must be a lot of them nearby."

"A lot? But there's only one set of tracks?" Padme leaned over to look at the marks again.

"They travel in single file," Una explained as she stepped over the tracks, careful not to disturb them.

"That makes sense" Qui-Gon murmured stroking his beard as he and the others cautiously followed her lead "It would hide their numbers and make it easier to ambush someone. It might also make it easier to trace their footsteps if they have to backtrack through the desert."

"Do you think they'll try to attack the ship?" Padme bit her lip worriedly.

"No, we're too big a target" Una shook her head "they prefer to prey on small groups, like us. Which is why if we're going to make our way back to the ship we should do so during the day and not at night."

"Agreed" the corners of Qui-Gon's lips twitched upwards as he glanced sidelong at the young woman beside him "You seem to know a lot about tracking. I can see why people as wealthy as the Trade Federation hired you."

"What? Did you think I got the job just because of my pretty face or something?" Una snorted with a smirk.

"You worked for the Trade Federation?" Padme stopped dead in her tracks, face livid.

"Now's not the time to get your knickers in a twist kid" Una rolled her eyes as she turned back to look amusedly at the disguised queen "I ain't the enemy. I didn't work for them for kicks. I did it because just like every goddamn person in this galaxy, I needed the creds. And as hard as it might be to believe, I am sorry about what happened to your planet. I don't like getting mixed up in politics and had I known that those damn Nemoidian's end game was invading your home I might've refused. But I didn't and here we are. Now let's keep moving before we all die of heatstroke."

They continued to keep moving, and after a moment of quiet deliberation Padme followed, her eyes narrowed on Una's taller back. Whatever respect or faint admiration for this enigmatic and roguish older female had diminished with that one sentence from the old Jedi, who glanced at Una apologetically.

She just shrugged and continued her way over the dunes, ignoring the blue orbs glaring holes into her back as she walked in the lead. As she strode she kept her eyes peeled for danger while one hand hovered constantly over her side where a blaster was kept at the ready in its holster.

She should've expected this response. Once people other than the Jedi knew of her affiliation with the Trade Federation there'd be suspicious mutterings and lots of cautious side-eyes flung at her direction. And besides, Padme was young and idealistic. At age fourteen she still saw much of the world through black and white, whereas Una saw everything in varying shades of grey with very blurred if small boundaries in-between to separate the tones.

 _I need a drink. Preferably on my own in a corner somewhere where I can just think without magic Jedi prodding my brain._

She sighed as she and the group finally crossed over the crest of another small dune and saw the wall of sandy pale buildings rising from the ground less than half a mile away.

Once they were halfway there, Una looked back at Qui-Gon.

"I'll split here and search the alleyways. You stay on the main thoroughfare and search the main shops. We'll meet back here next to that beacon" She pointed to the small beacon just resting at the edge next to the outermost building closest to them.

"Good idea. And remember to keep in contact with Obi-Wan and the ship and keep me updated as well" Qui-Gon reminded her but already she was walking away, waving her hand dismissively.

"Yeah-yeah old man I got it"

"Are you sure we can trust her?" Padme whispered softly to the Jedi, her eyes darting around the dirty, rough buildings they approached.

"She hasn't given us any reason not to" Qui-Gon's eyebrows rose calmly. "If anything, she has just as much reason to hate the Trade Federation as you do"

"What why?" Padme frowned puzzled.

"They tried to illegally enslave her and kill her, instead of honouring their agreement. That's all I can really say on the matter." Qui-Gon explained, his voice gentle but firm as he ended the discussion. After all, it was not his story to tell.

Padme, seeing he wasn't going to budge instead decided to ask:

"What are the other inhabitants of this planet?"

"Moisture farmers, for the most part. Some indigenous tribes and scavengers, like Una, said. The few spaceports like this one are havens for those that don't wish to be found"

"like us" Padme murmured as she looked around the spaceport with intrigue, Artoo-Deetoo whistling and whirring excitedly behind her.

Jar-Jar, however, was not impressed at all.

"Dissen berry, berry bad. OH! Icky icky goo!" he cried out as his large webbed foot landed in some animal dung that was hot, gooey and smelly.

Despite his attempts at composure, Qui-Gon rolled his eyes a little. He was starting to see why Una hated the clumsy Gungan with a vengeance.

"We'll try one of the smaller dealers first" he suggested as he led the way towards a small shop in the corner of the large marketplace they'd wandered into.

A small shop from which he felt a great pull from the Force. And Qui-Gon Jinn always trusted the will of the Force.

* * *

It didn't take long for Una to get into the heart of the small scrappy city. She got in from the outskirts through the slaves' quarters, keeping her head down as she slid and slunk through back alleys and side streets.

The natives didn't pay much attention to her. Bounty Hunters were commonplace all over Mos Espa, and if the slaves paid her any attention, they kept it to themselves. It wouldn't do them or their masters any good to pick a fight with a highly trained killer.

She was quick to find a small but very popular cantina, recommended to her by the few shopkeepers she'd spoken to for directions.

She stepped in, ignoring the lecherous eyes roaming over her shapely form as she strode up to the bar and ordered a Bellorian Ale.

She had just paid the barkeep for his service and taken a spot next to a hooded figure at the end of the bar corner when she felt hot breath down the back of her neck.

"Now what's a gorgeous dame like you doin' in a dive like this?"

She turned around, face blank as she eyed her admirer. He was a large and bulky cyborg-human, more muscles and wires than brains.

"I don't know. What's a dumb thug like you doin' at a dive like this?" she snorted as she took a swig of her ale.

"You got a mouth on you. I like that. But I'd like it better if you used it on something other than sucking that bottle"

"I bet you would. But I'm not interested. Now run along and go play with your little friends in the alleyway" she shooed him off, turning back to the bar, only to be stopped by a rough hand on her hip.

"I'd much rather play with you"

"And I'd much rather kiss an angry rancor bull. But hey we can't always get what we want, so get lost" she growled as she felt his hands start to trail over her behind and something hard press into her hip.

"Come on Doll, you don't have to act tough with me-"

"The woman said no" a smooth polished accent cut across the thugs.

 _You've got to be kidding me_

It took all Una had in her not to groan out loud as she caught sight of the blue eyes and auburn braid peeking out from beneath the brown hood of the figure that sat on the barstool next to her.

"You say something you little punk?" the thuggish cyborg snarled rounding on him.

"He said nothing" Una glowered at the hooded figure warningly before he could even open his mouth. "except that which was already said. Now beat it. I'm not interested"

"Yeah right, sure you aren't dollface, sure" the thug turned to press himself up even further onto her.

Through the corner of her eye, Una could see the hooded figure, raise a hand to a belt under the brown robes, but her focus was distracted by the clattering of her ale spilling onto the table top as the man made a grab at her arm.

There was a cry of shock and pain, and the snap of bone and many people quickly wheeled around to hear the source of the noise. Even the Cantina band paused to watch the cyborg stumble away from the young woman, clutching at his human arm which was twisted in a very unnatural direction.

"Bastard spilt my drink" Una shrugged nonchalantly, though her eyes were burning furnaces of fury that made everyone who saw them quickly turn back to their own business very quickly indeed.

Once the music started playing she glared down at the whimpering man, lip curling.

"Beat it. Before I break your skull"

"Y-y-you bitch-" the thug spluttered looking between her and the figure beside her who raised a placating hand.

"I believe the lady asked you to leave." he flicked his wrist.

"I…I will leave" the thug spluttered, his eyes oddly misty even as he scrambled out of the bar, clutching his mangled arm to his chest.

"Was it really necessary to break his arm?" Obi-Wan Kenobi rolled his eyes as he lowered his brown hood from his face.

"If you hadn't tried to be chivalrous I might not have needed to break anything but his ego" Una growled as she turned back to order a new drink from the barkeep.

"Well, I'm sorry for trying to help you" Obi-Wan snorted sardonically as he sipped a small glass of water.

"I don't need your help" Una muttered darkly under her breath.

"Yeah right" Obi-Wan smirked as he saw her cheeks turn red.

"Why are you even here? I thought your old man asked you to stay on the ship?"

"I figured it would be safer travelling in numbers" Obi-Wan mumbled, not meeting her eye.

"Bullshit! You just don't trust me" she took a swig of her ale.

"You're right I don't." he snapped waspishly. "And for good reason"

"Oh really what reason is that?" she took another swig "Because I have done everything, and I mean everything asked of me so far. I helped you two get the asset out, I've not betrayed you to our enemies and I'm doing what I can to help get our bloody ship repaired"

"Because drinking really fixes a ship right away" Obi-Wan rolled his eyes.

"No, but it does help fix my mood" she drained the last of her bottle and passed it over the top of the counter to the barkeep who gruffly disposed of it.

"Now are you going to sit there and criticise me or are you finally going to make yourself useful _junior_?" she glared sidelong at him and was derisively amused to see him return the expression with interest as he downed the last of his drink.

They were quick to leave the Cantina, or rather Una was quick and Obi-Wan sauntered after her.

Once they were outside she silently led them to a nearby knickknacks stall in an alleyway just around the corner.

"Don't you have a ship to repair?" she muttered as she watched the Jedi scan the table beside her.

"the mechanics and I examined the ship, and while there are some things we can cover easily we still need some standard pieces to replace before we can even think about replacing that hyperdrive," Obi-Wan grumbled as he examined a few pieces of wiring on a small circuit board.

"Alright." Una sighed heavily rolling her eyes to face him. "If it's small and standard we need then I guess we can get that done in an hour. Most places here should have enough for you and the boys to keep busy with. One hour. And then you get your ass back to the ship. Are we clear?"

"You have my word" Obi-Wan promised her, though he seemed reluctant to do so.

He put back the piece of wiring back on the stall table, much to the disgruntlement of the stall keeper, an alien with a bug like face and six arm like appendages with three-fingered hands and two short legs.

"[Stupid pretty boy. Speaks fancy but no manners. Tossing my fine merchandise like junk, sleemo]" he muttered in a guttural rough tongue, which Una responded to swiftly and with a small smirk as she leaned over to examine a sniper's scope.

"[Yeah well, what else can you expect from a softly handed off-worlder, huh?]"

The alien behind the stall looked surprised at her for a second before chortling softly.

"[Now what's this? A human speaking Huttese?! Nal-Huttan dialect to boot]"

"[Grew up on that garbage tip. Still can't get the smell out completely]" Una snorted as she compared the scope to the blaster she held. "[You look like a smart guy. You know where a girl can get a decent rifle for a decent price around here?]"

The alien quickly looked around the three of them, leaning in to whisper conspiratorially.

"[There is a trandoshan who trades in the alley behind the large Cantina on the edge of the slave's quarters. Calls himself Scud. Blasters, military grade firearms, he's got everything a hunter like you could want. But you didn't hear it from me.]"

"[Of course. Thank you, my multi-armed friend. You have been most helpful]" Una smiled as she straightened up and grabbed Obi-Wan by his robe sleeve "Come on Junior. Let's get you your parts"

The going was swift, and Obi-Wan had to admit it was faster with Una leading the way through the back alleys. Though she admitted didn't know the derelict city, she was quick to find the right seedy stores and stalls, and talk price with their less than savoury owners, sometimes at the point of a blaster. While Obi-Wan didn't like this rather violent means of haggling, it proved to be very effective, and surprisingly did not attract as much attention as he thought it would.

 _It would seem this backwater is used to hosting rather violent people._

He mused, his disgust quickly turning into interest as he took the chance to observe people under the hood of his cloak. Una had bidden him to wear his robes to cover his appearance, muttering something about him looking 'too posh' to be seen in such a locale.

"I don't know what your master was thinking when he decided to change into that poncho," she said as they finally exited a small hole in the wall with a few new and working power couplings shoved into a small pouch.

"Your robes are actually perfect for the desert as they are. And you don't stand out as much when you keep the hood up if anything it makes you look more like a local"

"My master was trying not to be recognized as a Jedi Knight" Obi-Wan murmured quietly so that only she could hear and she rolled her eyes.

"He needn't have bothered. Not many Jedi come this far into the Outer Rim. I doubt anybody here even knows what a Jedi is supposed to look like. Besides if you keep your robes together no one can see your real clothes."

"I suppose that's true" Obi-Wan nodded in agreement, for she was right. No one had paid him the slightest attention while he had kept his robes tight around him with the hood up. If anything people practically ignored him as he followed Una back to the edge of the town where she had entered only three hours ago with his Master.

"Alright junior, this is where we split."

"You're not coming back to the ship?" Obi-Wan frowned and she shook her head.

"No, I promised to meet with the Old Man back here when he was done on his rounds in the main square. Besides, you and the boys need to get a start on fixing that ship."

"What if you don't make it back before sundown?" Obi-Wan frowned as she dumped all their shopping that was in their large satchel, into his arms.

"I'll figure something out. Why? Is the Jedi apprentice worried about little old me? How sweet."

"Not in the slightest. You can obviously take care of yourself quite well." Obi-Wan bristled uncomfortably as she punched his shoulder.

"Aww, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me. Now come on, at this rate, you won't reach the ship till it's past your bedtime"

"You do know I am five years older than you." Obi-Wan rolled his eyes back at her.

"I know. It's just fun watching you squirm. Now be a good boy and run along back to the ship, before the sand people get you. I'm seriously not kidding about that last one" she added, her voice dropping back to its normal serious tones "You don't want to cross them, especially at night on your own. You really will be chopped up and served to the dogs if you don't make it back to the ship before the suns start setting"

"This truly is quite an incredible dustball of a planet" Obi-Wan muttered dryly as he looked over the desolate landscape with a mixture of awe and disgust.

"You talk smack now, but who knows, maybe you'll spend your last dying days on this dustball" Una slapped his behind "Now get a move on, and when you reach the ship, give us a call to let us know you're okay"

"Now you're the one sounding worried" Obi-Wan smirked only to quickly start walking away into the desert as she shot him a very deadly glare.

"That's right junior, start walking. Start walking and don't look back!"

He didn't.

* * *

Qui-Gon Jinn watched quietly as his apprentice quickly dashed out into the desert, the young bounty hunter chuckling as he left her earshot.

He should've supposed Obi-Wan wouldn't be so quick to trust her, but even so, Qui-Gon was disappointed he had left the ship, even if it was briefly.

"Stay right here and take a rest." He urged Padme and Jar Jar into the shade of a building, Artoo bumbling behind him on his wheels, glinting in the harsh sunlight.

He coughed as he approached Una, who didn't look at all surprised to see him.

"He needed more parts to repair the ship. Don't worry, I've just sent him back. With all we managed to find, he should be kept busy for a long time."

"That may be, but he still disobeyed orders." Qui-Gon clipped calmly but she could hear the heavy disappointment in his tones as he reached into his utility belt to grab his communicator.

"Don't call him now." Una pulled his communicator down "He'll need his wits about him while he's out there. If he's careful and quick, he'll reach the ship within the hour and call us. You can lecture him once he gets there."

"For one so young, you sure are forceful in your ways." Qui-Gon sighed irritably. It was one thing to call the shots, but he too was getting a little tired of her bossy nature, especially when he had to deal with it in this heat.

"Yeah well, I don't get criminals in carbonite by asking them politely now do I?" she scowled, almost as if guessing his thoughts, though not caring for them in the slightest as she asked quietly:

"So, did you find the hyperdrive?"

"We've found one in a junk shop nearby. But we've yet to look at a couple of other shops to see if they have one before we start haggling. And You?"

"No hyperdrives on the back alleys." She sighed "most of them are all too busy selling merchandise and booze for the Boonta Eve holiday. Those that are selling parts are selling the small stuff, so the big cartels don't raid and squash them"

"I see" Qui-Gon looked back towards the spot the disguised queen and the Gungan were resting in the shade.

"You should get back to them and start the search again soon" Una murmured eyeing their surroundings warily "without any blaster on her that poor girl's gonna be eaten for breakfast."

And even as she said this she spotted several seedy looking men leering towards the teenage queen's spot with greedy, licentious eyes.

Qui-Gon followed her gaze and nodded grimly.

"Agreed. But where will you go?"

"I will go refuel and rearm myself. These Naboo blasters are nice looking and all but not that powerful. There's a shop close to the slave's quarters that sells weapons. Hopefully, I can find what I need, and maybe scope out some more possible shops for you to look through"

"Very well then. We'll call you if any complications arise. May the Force be with you." Qui-Gon gave her a bob of the head as she nodded back and began walking down the main road.

As she made her way through the market she allowed herself a small smile. This was the first time since her escape from Naboo that she had truly been alone, and she was really enjoying her isolation.

"Now Scud, just where are you hiding-oh! Hey!" she scowled as someone small bumped into her, only to fall backwards onto the sand.

"S-sorry!" the young boy spluttered apologetically. He was a small boy, thin, barely nine or ten years old, with a mop of straw-coloured hair and shrewd blue eyes that were now widened in slight fear, a fear that only heightened as he noticed the blasters she'd strapped to her thigh holsters.

Noticing his gaze on her blasters, she sighed and reached down to pull him back up to his feet.

"Come on boy, up you get. Use your feet."

"yes mam" he looked down at his feet, ashamedly.

"Mam? Just how old do you think I am kid? Wait don't answer that" she quickly shook out her head as he raised his head to look at her.

"You aren't mad?" he blinked up at her hopefully and she shook her head.

"Have you committed a crime?" she smirked as the boy shook his head vigorously. "then you don't have to worry. I won't be freezing you in carbonite any time soon"

The boy cracked a small grin at that.

"What's your name kid?" she asked him gently and the boy mumbled.

"Anakin Skywalker."

"Nice to meet you Anakin, I'm Una. Next time just look where you're going okay" she reached out and ruffled his head of blonde hair "Now run along, your parents must be worried sick."

The boy, Anakin nodded and quickly dashed away, though not before chancing her a glance back as he reached the end of the street.

For some reason he could not shake, he had a funny feeling this wouldn't be the first time he met the strange bounty hunter.

Little did he know just how right that feeling was.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 – Old Friends**

The Trandoshan male stared down at the little girl that hid behind the Deveronian Bounty Hunter's legs. She was small and weak looking, not at all what he'd been expecting his boss to bring upon this ship.

"So…this is the little worm Nima told us about?" The Trandoshan looked up at the coppery face of the Deveronian who put a comforting hand on the little girl's shoulder.

"Play nice Scud; she's going to be staying with us for a while."

"Does the little worm have a name?" another voice grunted from the nearby table where a porcine like Gamorrean was staring down the little girl so hard she had begun to shiver.

"She hasn't given one yet. And probably won't if you keep glaring at her like that" the Deveronian scowled and the Gamorrean backed down, though he kept his eyes trained on the little girl as she now hid behind the Deveronian who chuckled.

"Don't worry, they both act tough, but they're just big softies."

"No, we're not" the Trandoshan bared his sharp teeth in a smirk at the little girl who gasped in fear.

"Argh! Now look, now you've scared her" the yellow Twi-lek, Nima huffed as she came through a door, followed closely by a very strange droid. It looked like the shape and size of an old HK-50 droid, except where parts of the original durasteel plating and parts were no longer attached. Instead, what appeared to be other parts from other more advanced droids and weapons were attached to its person. It had been painted dark grey, with two large red strips running down from the top of its head, down the left side of its torso and down to its left foot.

"I see you've got Scraps up and running again" the Deveronian smirked at the droid who nodded its head.

"Affirmative, it is good to be in service again, sir. And just in time too, for miss Nima has just informed me that we have received a new crewmember" the droid spoke in a strange high pitched, human-like voice.

It tilted its head to watch as the little girl leaned out from her hiding place to chance a peek at him.

She'd never had the chance to be around many droids, being only a cleaning slave, but she'd always been fascinated by them. To get the opportunity to see one up close.

She gulped as she felt herself be led gently out of her shield's shadow.

"So, there you have it kid." The Deveronian pulled her to stand in front of him, his warm hands placed securely on both her tiny shoulders "Welcome to the crew"

* * *

Una Crest was silent as she walked through a hole in the wall just behind the small Cantina on the edge of the Mos Espa slaves' quarters.

A small smile grew over her lips as she looked around the dingy shop. Weapons hung from every wall, blasters and melee alike. Even some ceremonial blades hung behind the shop counter where a trandoshan male hunched with his back towards her.

He was tall and bulky and ultimately reptilian in his appearance. His thick, scaly hide was a mix of yellow and green, mostly hidden under the plain armoured vest and pants he wore. His red eyes swivelled around warily as a tiny bell notified him of his new customer.

"Well, well, well" he rasped in basic, though with a very thick Dosh accent. "What have we here? A little girl far from home."

"Yes indeed, a little girl far from home and in need of a new blaster" Una held up her silver blaster and the Trandoshan snorted.

"Nabooian. Tch! Pretty but useless. Haven't I told you time and again not to go for the pretty looking guns?"

"And haven't I told you time and again, that you seriously need to clean your scales under your armpits, you decrepit old lizard?" Una folded her arms.

There was a pause as both Trandoshan and human narrowed eyes at one another.

Then they both suddenly grinned.

"It's great to see you Scud." Una chuckled warmly as the Trandoshan made his way around the counter, his reptilian lips spread into a wide, friendly grin as they quickly hugged.

"It's good to see you again, kid" Scud patted her shoulder hard as he held her at arm's length. "The scorekeeper has blessed you well. You're looking stronger and healthier than ever."

"As are you. Though I'm surprised that you decided to set up shop here on this scrapheap. What happened to your shop on Kessel?" she looked around at the shop again.

Scud chuckled and shrugged.

"Shut down by the Pyke Syndicate, but I'm not that fussed. Business is better here. Many T'doshok come to Tattoine to teach their young to hunt. It's a good place to start earning your Jagganath Points. Speaking of which, how did your mission for the Trade Federation go?"

"Not too good I'm afraid" Una rolled her eyes as she leaned against the shop counter. "Some stupid worker worm of theirs stole a data chip with some vital information. I got the worm and the chip back, but the slimeballs didn't pay me the fee."

"Trying to catch a freebie? Tche! Those politicians are cheapskates." Scud shook his head in disgust.

"Not just a freebie. They tried to put a slavers chip in me."

"THEY WHAT?!" Scud hissed, his hackles raising over pointed teeth as reptilian nostrils flared wide "Those disgusting dishonourable-" his voice trailed away as he began swearing with rough guttural Dosh.

"I know. What a bunch of a-holes, huh?" Una snorted. "And to top it off, those bastards are now responsible for that blockade around Naboo."

"I heard about that" Scud grumbled, "The word on the street is that many black marketeers are stuck on the planet unable to get off with their wares."

"Yeah, it's pretty airtight."

"Is that so? Then how did you get out?" Scud smirked, and Una shrugged.

"Ah, you know me Scud, got Lady Luck in the palm of my hand and whatnot."

"And the help of two Jedi" he quirked a scaly brow.

"Now where did you hear that?" Una narrowed her eyes.

"Slyde. He got word from one of his contacts stuck in the concentration camps on Naboo. According to rumours, the queen was rescued from the palace by two Jedi and a female gunslinger in a red jacket. Don't worry. Only Slyde and the rest of the old crew know it's you, and you know we wouldn't rat you out for any amount of credits."

"I should've known the old man couldn't keep his nose out of my business. So, he's using his spy network-pff! I can handle myself just fine on my own" Una pouted, folding her arms moodily.

"He worries about you. You are after all the closest thing he has to a kid" Scud patted her shoulder again as he led her around the shop.

"Now come on, let's get you some proper gear."

* * *

 _"And you're sure there's nothing left on board?"_ Qui-Gon's voice issued from the speakers of the Naboo ship's communications console.

"A few containers of supplies. The queen's wardrobe, maybe, but not enough for you to barter with, not in the amount you're talking about." Obi-Wan spoke his hands fiddling with a small mechanical part in his hands as his master sighed.

 _"Alright, I'm sure another solution will present itself. Oh, and Obi-Wan"_

"Yes, master?" Obi-Wan looked up from his tinkering, gulping as he heard the stern reprimand coming his way.

 _"Don't leave the ship again, not unless there is a dire emergency. We cannot risk the enemy knowing the Queen's true location."_

"Of course, master" Obi-Wan muttered, ears burning slightly red as he caught sight of the amused look an engineer was giving him from where he was working at fixing another console.

" _If you need any more supplies, just contact Una on her communicator."_

"I will."

" _And do try to get along with her, or at the very least be civil with one another. I know you both butt heads, but we'll need her help if we are to take down the Trade Federation."_

"Yes, master, I will. Stay safe." Obi-Wan nodded as he turned off the communicator. Once the connection broke, he sighed and looked outside. He could see the wind picking up as small clouds of sand began whipping around the ship, scratching roughly against its sleek silver hull.

"Blasted sandstorm" he muttered darkly. He could only hope his master wouldn't get caught too severely in the storm. Then again, Qui-Gon had a strange amount of luck when it came to befriending the locals of any of the planets they had visited.

He also found himself wondering what would happen to Una in the storm. She wasn't with Qui-Gon, that much he knew.

 _She must be taking shelter in a Cantina. She seemed pretty at home in them._

He remembered, bristling as he remembered how easily she had broken the arm of that creep that had tried hitting on her. She was not just strong; she had been trained. Her reflexes sometimes were almost as fast as his, and that was saying something seeing as he was force sensitive.

He paused as he stood up, pondering as he made his way out of the cockpit. There was something strange about the Bounty Hunter. Every time he was near her, he felt fluxes of emotions passing through the force. Very strong fluxes indeed.

He'd only ever felt such abnormalities when near other Jedi, especially small younglings at the temple who were untrained in controlling their feelings.

 _But no, it couldn't be possible, could it?_

He wondered to himself as he made to start fixing one of the broken consoles in the ship's small engineering deck.

* * *

"Damn shutters" Scud banged on one of the window shutters which appeared to be slightly bent out of shape, allowing a stray sliver of sandy wind to stream into the shop.

"Here, this should help" Una's hand passed him a durasteel plate from a scrap pile behind a door which he quickly welded over the gap, effectively shutting out the stream of sand.

"Thanks" Scud drawled, his dosh accent thickening as he swore at the now sand-covered floor of his shop. "Ruddy sandstorms, the one hazard about setting shop on a planet like this. Apart from the Tuskens of course."

"Been causing you trouble have they?" Una smirked as she finally stepped out from a back room, strapping on her new gear, which included two powerful black blasters holstered to her hips, a long jet-black blaster rifle equipped on her back, several knives on her thigh holsters and to top it off, a flame thrower gauntlet secured on her right lower arm.

"So, what do you think" She smirked as she admired herself in a nearby grimy mirror. Damn, did she look good or what?

"I think that now you are ready to hunt" The Trandoshan grinned as he walked over to stand beside her. "I don't know what you were thinking of carrying around those weak excuses for firearms."

"Didn't have many choices. My old ones were confiscated by the Trade Federation when they got me." Una groaned. "Speaking of capture, how long do you think this storm will hold?"

"Depends. Usually, storms last for two hours, but sometimes it can stretch for a good twelve if the winds over the desert are strong" Scud shrugged. "Either way, the store will be shut until it ends so we may as well crack open a drink and enjoy ourselves."

"Sounds like a plan. But before we sit down and chill, I gotta call a couple of people."

"You mean the Jedi?" Scud smirked, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yes them." she pulled out her communicator.

"Qui-Gon here" she heard the older Jedi grunt on the other end.

"It's me. You guys, okay?" Una glanced as the storm rattled the windows.

"We're fine." Qui-Gon answered calmly "We have taken shelter from the storm, and yourself?"

"All good. I'm at the weapons shop beside the Cantina right next to the slaves quarters."

"Ah, so we're close then." Qui-Gon muttered "I'll meet you there when the storm's over, and we'll discuss the next move. In the meanwhile, keep your head down and out of trouble."

"Oh, but Master Jedi, getting in trouble is such fun." Una rolled her eyes as she hung up the communications and turned towards Scud.

"Right" she clapped her hands "Now where're the drinks?"

* * *

The night was dark on the city-planet of Coruscant. So dark that nobody noticed the two black-cloaked and hooded figures that walked around the outside courtyard of the towering grand spire.

"Tatooine is sparsely populated." One of the shadows spoke softly. "If the trace was correct, I will find them quickly master."

"Move against the Bounty Hunter and the Jedi first." His master sneered from beneath his hood "You will then have no difficulty in taking the queen to Naboo to sign the treaty."

"At last, we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last, we will have revenge" the taller shadow said, and though his dark red and black painted face was calm, malicious excitement laced every syllable from his mouth.

The master's lips curled even wider.

"You have been well trained my young apprentice. They will be no match for you."

* * *

 _A twelve-year-old girl with the dark hair and catlike eyes was standing outside the massive stone archway embedded into the side of the barren mesa._

 _It was the entrance to a temple, old and weathered by time and wind. Beyond the top of the archway, carved out of the Mesa walls, a spire spread high up to the heavens._

 _The girl looked away from the pinnacle above her with a gulp, only to find herself facing a dark chasm._

 _She could see a rusty-red skinned Deveronian male standing in the center of the archway before her, half covered in the shade of the threshold. On either side of him, engraved like stone sentinels were two figures._

 _"Come on, it's not that bad once you're inside" the Deveronian man smirked from his spot, seemingly unperturbed by the presence of the stone effigies around him._

 _But the girl didn't move. She just stared at the stony figures._

 _One was a woman, with long flowing hair and a serene expression on her face. The other was a man, with a wrathful expression and a sinister looming presence. Above the both of these figures just above the archway keystone, the bust of an old man with long hair and beard stretched his arms out above the two figures so that his fingers embraced the sides of their heads in a caress that was both stern yet loving._

 _His face was blank, though his staring eyes seemed to pierce straight through the young girl below, who shivered as she locked gazes with the stone eyes._

 _She was pulled out of her thoughts as the Deveronian man held out a hand towards her._

 _"Here, if you're really that scared you can-"_

 _"No!" she snapped only to find that the voice that escaped her was not that of a child's._

 _Instead, a woman's hand swatted the Deveronian's hand away, and a more mature feminine face looked back up into the eyes of the old stone man above._

 _She was meant to be here; she just knew it._

 _And yet…_

 _"Una"_

* * *

"Una!"

Una grunted and yelled as she opened her eyes. Scud was standing over her his yellow reptilian eyes were worried as he peered down into her bleary face.

Her drink had been taken out of her hand and put upon the table before her. She was leaning back, almost slumped in her chair.

"Sorry Scud" she yawned, hand over her mouth "Must've dozed off. What? Is everything okay?" she blinked as he straightened up, still quirking a scaly brow at her.

"You were having the dream again" he muttered.

"The what? Oh right yeah…" Una grumbled, rubbing her brow as she leaned onto the table before her. "Ever since I met those bloody Jedi I've had all these flashbacks. I don't know if it's because of their manipulating that force thing or whatever but it's driving me nuts."

"Probably" Scud muttered though he looked troubled. "Slyde just called on the main holo-portal. He wants to see you."

"I take it you spilt the beans on my situation" Una scoffed, rolling her eyes. She loved her old crew, but sometimes it irked her how overprotective and coddling they could be at times. Who'd have thought the roughest fiercest bounty hunters this side of the galaxy could be such overprotective guardians?

"I didn't have to. He seemed to know already what was going on." Scud shrugged "He's waiting out a sandstorm in Mos Eisley."

"He's here on Tatooine? Oh god, how long has he been here?" Una groaned. If Slyde caught her with the Jedi, she'd never hear the end of it.

"He's been here a week already, working on a mission for the Hutts." Scud explained as he picked up her empty drink bottle and tossed it in the trash "He's coming tomorrow to collect his bounty at the Boonta Eve Pod Races, he wants to meet you there."

"Of course he does" Una stood up running a hand through her hair. "Man I need the loo."

"up the stairs and to your right. It's small, but you'll have to make do" Scud grunted, yet even as she made her way upstairs he looked out a small chink in the window shutters.

The dust storm outside had almost dissipated, yet he could make out amidst the deserted streets, a black hovering globe with a strange tall, dark fin on top.

Scud quickly shut the blinds of his shop as the eye of the globe turned his way, a small snarl curling over his reptilian lips.

"Typical Una" he shook his head in exasperation as he looked up the narrow steps that led up into the upper floor of his shop. "How do you manage to get yourself into all this trouble?"

* * *

The storm was ending. Qui-Gon could feel it through the force as he meditated in a small room off to the side, a rare moment stolen during this tumultuous mission.

Despite this dustball of a planet being home to so many scum and downtrodden souls, he couldn't help but marvel at the way the force seemed to wind its way like a mass of strings through the entire planet.

So many lives, all interwoven and connected. Tattoine indeed was a strange hidden gem tucked away in the corner of the galaxy.

That's when he saw it, unbidden, the vision of a grand temple tucked away in the side of a giant mesa, Guarded by three strange stone sentinels. Between the sentinels, an adult humanoid and what appeared to be a young child both stood facing the dark chasm.

Though he couldn't see the face, Qui-Gon recognised the child's dark hair and cat-like walk as she followed the tall humanoid male inside.

He had rust-red skin and two large horns atop his bald head, the back of which bore a long thin pale "X" shaped scar.

Qui-Gon sucked in a sharp breath as he opened his eyes and snapped out of the trance. He knew that scar, though it had been a very long time since he'd seen it.

 _But no…that couldn't be possible. Unless-_

He was forced out of his reverie as a young voice spoke behind him in the doorway.

"Mister Qui-Gon sir?"

"Yes, Anakin?" Qui-Gon smiled as young Anakin Skywalker peered into the room, surprisingly quiet and curious.

A quick nudge from the force, plus the sight of the older woman cleaning up the dining table behind the boy, told him that the boy's mother had ordered him to be quiet and not disturb his meditation.

"Thank you, Anakin I'll be right out. Why don't you get a head start? I'll meet you at the shop?"

"Sure" Anakin nodded excitedly as he bounded away from the room much to his mother's exasperation.

"Ani! What did I tell you about running about the house?!" She called after him, and Qui-Gon allowed himself a small smirk as he got to his feet.

It truly was amusing. Children could be such complex creatures, both wise and innocent, afraid yet strangely fearless, mysterious and yet as open as a book. And speaking of open books.

The old Jedi thought back to the vision he had of the young girl and the Deveronian hunter. If what he suspected was true, then the Force had great plans in store for the future, great and strange.

He was not at all surprised when half an hour later, he met Una outside the front entrance to a small hole in the wall weapons store, her cat-like eyes glaring holes into his face.

"You don't have to probe around my head y'know? You could call me and ask me if something's up?" She muttered waspishly, and Qui-Gon sighed.

"Forgive me, but like before it was an accident. Your mind appears to be unusually open to me whenever I meditate."

"Yeah-yeah whatever, I get it, you got the Force yadda-yadda!" Una rolled her eyes, folding her arms as she led him inside the shop. "Now get inside, I found someone who might be able to help."

Qui-Gon followed her inside the shop, curious to see their potential new ally. He had to admit he was surprised to see her exchange words with a tall Trandoshan who had stepped out from a back room, dusting his hands.

"So…this is the Jedi?" he grumbled and Qui-Gon's gaze hardened upon Una.

His identity was supposed to be a secret, and here she was blasting her mouth off to a stranger?!

Seeing his irritation, Una rolled her eyes.

"Chill your poncho Old Man I didn't rat you or the others out. Scud here is an old friend of mine, and unlike that Gungan, he knows how to keep his mouth shut and his nose out of trouble."

"I see." Qui-Gon sighed as he turned his suspicious gaze upon the Trandoshan "However if you didn't tell him about our mission, then how did he know about it?"

"Let's say some friends, and I have been keeping an eye on this little scamp. A very close eye." Scud snorted, reaching out to ruffle Una's braids, much to her irritation.

"Indeed?" Qui-Gon raised his eyebrows though he could already feel himself starting to relax as he felt the lizard humanoids warm nudge of affection directed at the young woman beside him.

They obviously must have known one another for a long time, possibly since she was a child

It would explain a lot, Qui-Gon thought to himself as he watched Una swat Scud off with a grumble and a small embarrassed blush. Then again, it also raised a lot more questions.

However, Qui-Gon quietly listened to the weapons dealer as he explained his ideas. There were several junk dealers he knew that would be willing to trade parts for some of the materials in the Queen's wardrobe. Silks and beautiful clothes were always in high demand from wealthy black market tycoons, especially jewellery. Not to mention the broken parts that couldn't be salvaged from the ship would make good scrap metal to be recycled.

However, as Qui-Gon had expected, the only Hyperdrive generator compatible with their ship that could be found in town was the one at Watto's shop.

"Rumour is, is that the little sleemo has got a couple of good deals with some of the pod racers" Scud snorted, disdain coating his tongue like acid "that little rotten Dugg Sebulba. Nasty little thug, not to mention a cheat."

"He's a seasoned outer rim Pod Racer." Una rolled her eyes "Of course he'll cheat."

"So Watto supports another pod racer, even though he already enters his own slave to race for him?" Qui-Gon pondered quietly.

"Yes, a little human boy-wait-wait, how did you know that?" Scud narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"We met him, the boy and his mother. They offered us shelter from the sandstorm." Qui-Gon explained.

"Ah, you'll be in good hands then," Scud nodded sagely "Shmi and her son are a decent lot. I sometimes get the boy to run a few errands in return for some spare parts or extra rations. Slave or no slave, it's always worth keeping friends like that close to your chest, wouldn't you agree kid" Scud glanced sidelong at Una whose face tensed up ever so slightly.

"Sure is Scud. Now come on old man, we should get a move on to that shop. Scud I'll drop by here after we're finished okay" she forced a smile on her face, but Qui-Gon did not miss the meaningful look she shot the Trandoshan over her shoulder as she and he both exited the shop quickly.

"You two are very close" Qui-Gon smirked as he folded his arms into his sleeves.

"Scud was part of my old crew. He practically taught me everything I know about blasters" Una sighed heavily as she followed the Jedi into the main road.

"Indeed. So you've known him for a very long time then?"

"Since I was barely three feet off the ground" Una's lips quirked upwards in a small fond smile. "he acts tough, but he's a big softie at heart, but don't tell him I said that" she added sheepishly much to Qui-Gon's amusement.

"I won't. Though I will admit, it does surprise me a little. Trandoshan's are not exactly known for their nurturing demeanours."

"True" Una nodded in agreement "But Scud used to help train young T'doshok back in his heyday, so he's always been pretty good with kids. Speaking of which," she trailed off as she caught sight of Padme, Artoo and Jar-Jar standing under the shade of an archway cut into a stone wall.

"Heyo!" Jar-Jar smiled and waved at them.

"Hello," Una grunted at the Gungan before sparing a small smirk for the young disguised queen by his side.

She was looking more irritable than before, though Una was surprised to see the expression was directed more towards the Jedi Master than at her, as they all began to walk together back into the town square.

"Are you sure about this?" Padme scowled, "Trusting our fate to a boy we hardly know. The Queen will not approve"

"The Queen doesn't have to know" Qui-Gon smirked, his eyes twinkling as he met Una's amused glance.

Padme, however, was too absorbed in her righteous anger as she pouted to herself and folded her arms stubbornly "Well _I_ don't approve."

"So what's this oh-so-terrible plan you got old man?" Una whispered the Jedi as they made their way towards the entrance of another bigger shop. "You going to get the slave boy to help you or what?"

"We might…if my talk with Watto goes well" Qui-Gon squinted in the bright sunlight "In fact, I will offer to sponsor him in the race."

"Oh yeah, and where will we get all that money to sponsor a racer?" Una muttered as she rolled her eyes "What are you going to do? Magically summon some credits with the force?"

"No, we will enter our ship for the entry fee." Qui-Gon clipped as he wiped his feet on the small rug laid out over the threshold of the shop.

"Enter the ship? God, I hope you know what you're getting into old man" Una sighed as she paused to take a small sip from her water flask on her hip and followed him inside.

Watto's shop was surprisingly large in comparison to the other junkyard shops that littered Moss Espa and seemed well-stocked with various spare parts and half decimated droids scattered about the walls.

But it was the two figures in the centre of the space next to the shop counter that held Una's attention.

One was a Toydarian, blue and wrinkled, his wings furiously flapping as he did his best to support his paunchy body where it hovered in the air. He seemed to be glaring at a much shorter figure on the ground.

Una's stomach lurched. It was the little sandy-haired boy she had bumped into just a few hours ago. What was his name?

 _Anakin._

A small voice nudged her in the back of her head.

 _Yeah, that's what he said back on the street, isn't it? So, he's a slave, huh?_

Una felt her heart clench uncomfortably as her eyes roved over the boy again. Apart from being slightly malnourished and small for his age, the boy was otherwise not looking too bad off for a slave. There were no bruises she could see, and he was moving around like normal, so there didn't seem to be any hidden injuries, much to her relief.

His eyes lit up with wonderment at the sight of her fully decked out in her gear. Una couldn't help but smile at his wide blue eyes but was quick to quietly raise a finger to her lips for silence, before quickly glancing at Qui-Gon.

The old Jedi, as always met her gaze with a curious one of his own, that made her smile vanish with a small scowl.

He was feeling her emotion through the force again. Una would have to talk with the older man soon if he didn't stop prying into her affairs. It was bad enough he was trudging up old memories without poking around inside her head.

Her grim thoughts were interrupted as the Toydarian shop owner's gruff guttural voice suddenly pierced the air in a loud shout.

"The boy tells me you wanta sponsor 'im in the race! How can you do this? not on the republic credits, I think huh?"

 _This must be Watto._

Una folded her arms behind Qui-Gon as he pulled out a small holo-disk and displayed their Nubian craft.

"My ship will be the entry fee."

"Ooh, not bad, not bad. Nubian uh?" Watto smirked with admiration at the diagram of the ship.

"It's in good order. Except for the parts we need" Qui-Gon muttered as he put the holo-disk away, eyeing the Toydarian who was now glowering suspiciously at him.

"Ah, but what will the boy ride? He smashed uppa my pod in the last race. It takes a long time to fix it uh?" he glanced down with a small glower at the boy.

"It's not my fault really" the boy, Anakin piped up indignantly from the side. "Sebulba flashed me with his vents. I actually saved the pod…mostly…"

"Hmm, that you did, huh." Watto chuckled, half in amusement half in fondness for the boy. "The boy's good, no doubts there."

"Well I've acquired a pod in a game of chance, the fastest ever built."

"Hmm, I hope you and your _charming_ friend behind you didn't kill anyone I know for it. **[If you did well, then I'm afraid you'd have to face my good friends the Hutts, and they'd chew a little bitch like you for breakfast]"** Watto snorted the last bit in Huttese as he gave a malicious glance at Una, his eyes suspiciously cold as he eyed her blasters on her hips.

 **"[What a coincidence, the Hutts are my good _friends_ too. And I don't think they'd like your tone too much f _riend,_ or your taste _._ ]"** Una replied in flawless Huttese much to everyone's surprise.

The Toydarian's skin paled dramatically as the young bounty hunter locked onto him with her piercing amber eyes. Anakin's gaze was if possible, even more, awed than before. He'd never seen his master so uncomfortable before, and the woman had not yet drawn out a blaster to threaten him.

Qui-Gon also was quietly impressed. He couldn't feel any malice behind the young woman's tone and yet she could probably out-stare a cat and make it nervous with that look of hers.

It certainly didn't take long for Watto to nervously chuckle and quickly tear his gaze away as he said:

"Haha, your eh-he lovely friend has quite the sense of humour no? So hows 'bout this, you supply the pod and the entry fee, I supply the boy, we split the winnings fifty-fifty I think huh?"

But Qui-Gon shook his head at the offer as he stepped forward to start pacing up and down in front of the hovering alien.

"If it's going to be fifty-fifty, I suggest you front the cash for the entry fee. If we win you keep all the winnings minus the cost to the parts we need, and if we lose, you keep my ship. Either way, you win" He folded his arms into his poncho.

"hmm" Watto hummed thoughtfully to himself looking as if he wanted to haggle a bit more, but the sight of Una still staring him down behind Qui-Gon's back made him increasingly uncomfortable.

All in all, it wasn't a bad deal he supposed. The foolish human man was right, either way, he'd get a lot out of this deal whether he lost or won. This bet was a safe bet. Also, though he didn't admit it out loud, he didn't want trouble with that lady bounty hunter. He had a feeling that if he did wrong by her, even the Hutts wouldn't be able to save him.

"hmm, Deal!" he finally shouted, slapping a greasy blue hand onto Qui-Gon's palm to seal the bargain.

The Jedi and the Bounty Hunter both spared a small grin to Anakin as they left, paying no more heed to Watto as he began to buzz backwards to his shop counter.

 **"[Your friend is a foolish one, methinks. And that woman, hmm is trouble. You'd do well to stay away from her methinks]"** he muttered darkly to his slave who shrugged with a small smile as he made to the back of the shop to start his chores, a big grin on his face. After all, it wasn't every day one saw Watto ever get his wings ruffled.

* * *

The Deveronian male smirked as he leaned in the shade of a market stall's tarp. His skin was rusty red, making his coal coloured horns seem even darker against the stone wall behind him. He was wearing a white shirt with a tan vest, pants and boots underneath a dark brown leather trench coat, which he kept draped over his shoulders like a cape without putting his arms through the sleeves. All over his tall, lean body were holsters and straps for various weapons.

His yellow eyes scanned the thoroughfare with computer-like precision only to narrow as it caught sight of a small group of people walking out of a nearby junk shop.

The group consisted of three humans, a man and two young women, a strange and very clumsy amphibious creature, and small silver and blue Astro-droid which beeped along happily behind the man leading them.

But it was one of the girls that the Deveronian kept a close watch on. She was wearing a tightly fitted blue-black lightly armoured bodysuit with a red jacket draped over the top. Despite her apparent youth small streaks of grey hair upon her head glinted in the bright sun like the silvery reflections that bounced off the various blasters and holsters she wore around her person. Out of the whole group, she alone looked like the only one adequately armed, however-

The Deveronian glanced back at the man leading the group. He was middle-aged but tall and still quite strong, with long brown hair and a short beard, both of which were well on their way to becoming completely grey. His blue eyes were both calm but shrewd as they took in their surroundings, including the Deveronian himself.

There was a small silence as yellow orbs met blue from across the thoroughfare. The Deveronian felt himself holding his breath as he felt something like a low pulse of energy ripple in the air around him from where an invisible stone seemed to have dropped.

The Deveronian smirked as the human man stared blinked in shock at where he stood, only to find himself staring at a blank space of wall a second later as a tamed bantha briefly walked across his vision.

Meanwhile, in the safety of a nearby alleyway the Deveronian allowed himself a small chuckle.

"Well I'll be damned, looks like we finally meet once more Qui-Gon Jinn"

* * *

Darth Sidious scowled as he paced up and down the length of the long dark chamber.

In just a few short hours his apprentice would be on the backwater planet known as Tattoine, and hopefully, the Jedi and their accomplices would be dead.

And yet…And yet…

Sidious snarled as an uneasy feeling settled about him like a yoke on his shoulders.

There was something wrong with the force; it was fluctuating fiercely in two different ways. It was like he was sitting at an opera, and he could continuously hear two of the instruments stand out starkly from the others as they played out of tune.

Something had gone wrong with his plan. But what?

He shut his eyes and sunk deep into his thoughts. Of course, the bounty hunter wasn't supposed to be alive. The fact that those stupid Nemoidians had not thought to tie up loose ends themselves made his gut burn hot with anger. And yet he felt there was more to her story than met the eye he was sure of it. Perhaps it was the will of the force that kept her alive to play a part unknown to him. If so, maybe then there could be a way for him to turn her survival to his advantage.

Yet there was another vergence that stuck out to him like a sore thumb. He couldn't tell who it belonged to, but whoever they were, they shone like a beacon through the force, lighting the way so brightly it almost blinded the sith lord even in his meditative state. Never had he encountered such potential from any being, not even from the so-called strongest members of the Jedi Council.

Could it be possible? Could he have finally found the answer to all his problems? The ultimate weapon of the Sith?

He opened his eyes, and a strange eerie light filled them as his malicious grin spread over his old face.

Perhaps this whole mess would be worth the trouble after all.

* * *

Noon had come and gone, and the twin suns were both high in the sky above. The trip to the Slaves quarters of Mos Espa took much shorter than it had before the storm. Along the way, Una quickly picked up a couple of extra small blasters from one of the lesser weapons dealers hidden in an alley, both of which she handed to Padme and Qui-Gon.

"So you don't have to use your…well… _other_ weapon" she muttered quietly glancing down at the Jedi's waist where she knew his lightsabre to be tucked away into his robes.

"Thank you" Qui-Gon nodded in gratitude as he accepted the weapon and hooked it onto his belt.

Padme, on the other hand, was more reluctant.

"I know it goes against your oh-so-noble _pacifist_ ways-" Una rolled her eyes as the younger girl glared at the weapon and its holster in her grip. "but if something happens and I or the old man aren't there for you then at least you'll be able to defend yourself."

"Fine" Padme grumbled as she let Una secure the blaster to her hip and adjust its position.

Once the two humans had been settled, Una turned to glare at Jar-Jar who had been about to wander off to amuse himself.

"Oy! Where do you think you're going."

"Oh! I was-I-I-Sorry" Jar-Jar gulped sheepishly as Una jerked her head.

"No wandering off okay."

"Okiday" Jar-Jar nodded eyes fixed on his toes.

"Must you always be so mean to him?" Padme frowned at Una, folding her arms as she observed the Gungan tiptoe his way to walk dutifully beside an amused Qui-Gon.

"I'm not being mean, I'm being firm, there's a difference" Una quirked a brow at the young queen, "something you could learn to do for yourself"

"Excuse me?" Padme flushed angrily.

"You heard me, kid" Una began to walk ahead slowly. "True the Trade Feds have your planet in a tight spot, but your people aren't going to save themselves until they see you willing to fight for them."

"I am fighting for them" Padme huffed as she ran to catch up. "I'm going to fight for them in the senate. Once I plead my case, I'm sure the Senate will send someone to sort through this mess once and for all."

"Really? You believe the Senate will listen to you and come to your rescue because you call for help?" Una snorted "My god; sometimes you're so naïve it's almost nauseating."

"Fine scoff all you want but once the Senate sees the suffering of my people they will-" Padme hissed heatedly, but Una put up a hand to silence her, her cat-like eyes suddenly sharp and dangerous as she whispered:

"They will what? Leap into action? Send an army? Send more Jedi? Yeah because we all know how well that plan went." She added bitterly more to herself. "Listen, while your devotion to your people is admirable, it's not going to change the minds and procedures of all those high and mighty asses in comfy senate cushions. Sure they'll listen, sure they'll cry sympathy tears for you, but unless there is any reason that your plight affects their quality of life, I doubt you're going to get any help from them because they care for life as you do."

Padme opened her mouth to argue, but no words were coming out of her mouth. Seeing the confusion on the younger girl's face, Una turned and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Look, Padme, you're a good person, who cares a lot about other people, but a lot of those people in that senate…well…they probably aren't that good at all. If they did care about other people the way you do, then places like Tattooine and the outer rim, where we have slavery and gangsters ruling the roost, well, none of this would exist."

"I…I guess…" Padme mumbled as she glanced around at her surroundings. "But that doesn't mean it's not worth a try."

And with that, she stomped away to join Qui-Gon, leaving Una to sigh heavily and shake her head.

 _Oh yeah sure, be mad at the bounty hunter for giving you a much-needed dose of reality, kid._

"Argh! God, why does it have to be so stinking hot?" she groaned to herself only to pause as she caught sight of something dark in the corner of her eye.

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled as if picked up by a breeze, though she could swear that the hot arid air was still around her even as something twisted inside her gut from an unknown direction.

Una pursed her lips. Of all the time for her gut feelings to play up, it had to be then.

Still keeping her pace behind her group of companions, she chanced a small glance to an alleyway to her left. In it she could see several large thuggish men (or at least several large humanoid males) starting to make their way up towards the street, their leader catching her eye and sneering.

 _Oh no…what the hell is he doing here?!_

Una quickly checked their surroundings. The street they were walking down was now quite small and narrow and mostly deserted save for a couple of stall owners, her allies and the thugs walking towards them out of the alleyway, malicious sneers plastered all over their wretched mugs.

Qui-Gon, sensing her apprehension through the force looked back at Una his hand flying to his belt, but she shook her head with a scowl and glanced at Padme and Jar-Jar, who had only just noticed the tense situation.

Taking the hint, Qui-Gon quickly steered the young girl and the Gungan towards the end of the street where it connected to a more extensive larger road just as the head of the thugs finally stepped out to meet her.

He was a Torgruta tall and broad, more like a brick wall than anything else. His skin was red and white, and he had tall blue and white montrals and long head-tails that fell over his leather clothes and hard but worn armoured padding. His fists, massive blocks were clenched around a blaster gun on his belt.

"Una Crest, my, my this is a surprise."

"Zotar Sil. Still eating Jabba's table scraps like the rest of his dogs?" Una snorted as she eyed up the muscle on either side. There were five of them in total, but Una had faced worse odds. Still, she had the Jedi and the others to worry about and putting them on Zotar's radar was the last thing she wanted right now.

However luckily for her, Zotar hadn't noticed Qui-Gon nor the others as they safely blended into a crowd around a Boonta Eve Souvineer Stand. No, he only seemed to have his nasty eyes fixed for Una…as usual.

"Ha-Ha, little Una, always the firecracker ain't you." He stepped forward into her personal bubble "One would think you'd learned some respect after all these years."

"Yeah, see Zotar here's the thing, I only show respect when I actually see something worth respecting and right now I don't see anything so, if you don't mind I'll be off-" Una snorted as she began to back away from him and his cronies only to be stopped by a rough hand on her shoulder.

"Aww, running away so soon? And here I thought we could catch up and have some fun like the good old times."

"Sorry but still not interested, also I have this thing about not associating myself with cowardly sleemos that left me for dead to save their own hides" Una tried to sidestep him again only to have his hand grab her around the waist to wheel her around as he pressed himself against her.

"Come now, sweetheart, don't tell me you're still mad about that little…misunderstanding? You know I had no choice, and after all, it's been two years-AH!" Zotar yelped, doubling over as Una's armoured knee slammed straight between his legs.

"What part of _not interested_ don't you understand you kriffing twit?" She snapped coldly feeling the familiar nudge in her gut that warned her of danger.

Una's nostrils flared as with a blink of her catlike eyes her whole world seemed to slow down to a crawl. She didn't even have to look behind her as she twisted her hips and snapped her leg in a sharp backwards kick that landed square in one of the thug's ribs as he reached out to grab at her. He was so stunned and startled by her attack that he didn't even see her hammer fist smashing down on his skull till it was too late. He was quick to crumple to the ground, unconscious while the rest of his mates all cried out in shock.

However, they were quick to recover as Zotar yelled angrily from where he was still clutching his privates on the floor:

"Get her boys!"

But even before the last syllable left his mouth, Una had already knocked two of his men out with a crossing double punch right to their faces that broke their noses and fractured their jaws. The last two men spurred now by anger at the falls of their comrades desperately tried rushing at the young woman. One of them got knocked out after being hit between the eyes by the butt of Una's blaster while the other crumpled as she broke his knee with a nasty sharp kick. He cried out in pain, tears streaming down his face but Una paid him no heed as she strolled over to Zotar, whose fear seemed to be overriding the ache between his legs.

"Y'know I'm surprised it hurts so much considering how little we both know there is down there" Una sneered raising her blaster to the centre of his red and white forehead.

"C-Come on U-Una." Zotar blubbered in terror "Y-Y-You know how it is. It's-It's every man for himself out there-"

"True" Una conceded, but her gaze was icy cold; indeed she could've sworn everything around her, even the bright sunlight felt much colder right now. "But even so, I can think of a thousand other low lives who'd do better than you under the same circumstances."

There was a click as she pressed her finger on the trigger, and Zotar shut his eyes.

* * *

Qui-Gon Jinn's eyes were wide as he stared at the fight down the street between the heads of some of the market stall purveyors. He'd always been suspicious of this young Bounty Hunters true skills, but all those times before he'd only felt fleeting brushes from the force. Now the ripples were unmistakable.

 _A force-sensitive individual, strong enough to have become a Jedi…yet she isn't._

His jaw tensed as he felt a wave of cold suddenly pierce him.

"Stay right here" he muttered to Padme, Jar-Jar and R2. Yet even as he rushed towards the scuffle, the sound of a blaster bolt pierced the air. His blood ran cold, yet for some inexplicable reason, the force was no longer fluctuating oddly about him.

He pushed his way past a few startled bystanders who had stopped to watch the commotion that soon became clear to him as he got through.

Una was standing above the Torgruta male who cringed as he lay in a miserable puddle on the ground. Next to his head, Qui-Gon could see a patch of burnt dirt and sand where the blaster bolt had hit.

Qui-Gon sighed in relief, smirking a little as some of his fellow watchers rolled their eyes and muttered to themselves:

"What a waste of time."

"Yeah, she didn't even kill the wimp."

"What stopped her?"

 _What indeed?_

Qui-Gon frowned as he examined the area, yet everything soon became apparent as a small head of sandy hair poked out from around a nearby corner.

Una spared Anakin a glance and the boy timidly crept out from his hiding place, staring down at the Torgruta male warily as he groaned and moaned in agony on the floor as she kicked him once more in the privates.

"Oh quit whining, it's not like there's anything valuable down there anyway" Una grunted now wincing as she smelt the pungent smell of bodily waste permeated the air.

"You didn't kill him?" Anakin's question snapped her out of her disgust as he walked over to her side. "That's what most of the other hunters do around here when they get mad at one another."

Una looked down at Anakin, and Qui-Gon was immensely surprised to see her gaze and smirk soften at the sight of the child by her side.

"Yeah well, where I come from kid, hunters don't waste their time with drudges like these. And we don't kill unless we need to."

 _Or if there are children present._

Qui-Gon raised his eyebrows but kept his distance as he listened in on the conversation with interest.

"So what are you doing here, shouldn't you be back at the junk shop?" Una quirked a brow and Anakin gave her a grin.

"I finished all my chores for the day, so Watto let me off early to finish my pod racer before tomorrow and-Oh hi Mister Qui-Gon!"

"Hello again Anakin," Qui-Gon smiled warmly as the boy and Una both strode up to meet him.

"Are the others safe?" Una asked, and Qui-Gon nodded, glancing down at the injured male still whimpering from where he lay prone in the dirt.

"A friend of yours?"

"Tch! He wishes" Una's lip curled, but she refrained from speaking further, too afraid she'd start swearing and cursing if she dared look at the pathetic lifeform again. "Come on let's get a move on before he comes to"

"Okay, hey, Padme! Hey Jar-Jar! Hey Artoo!" Anakin called out excitedly as ran up to the young disguised queen, the Gungan and the Astro droid at the end of the street.

Once he was far enough away, Qui-Gon glanced at Una, who rolled her eyes as she bristled with discomfort.

"Alright, I get it you've got questions."

"Yes, who taught you to fight?" Qui-Gon folded his arms in his sleeves.

"My old crew, why?" Una muttered waspishly.

"Because you seem too well trained to be just a bounty hunter."

"Right and how many bounty hunters have you worked closely with?" Una scowled.

"Not many" Qui-Gon admitted quietly "When did you start training?"

"Fifteen years ago, when I was five" Una replied stiffly.

"That's quite young" Qui-Gon muttered, but the young woman quirked a brow at him.

"Hark who's talking, don't you start training your Jedi when they're still in diapers?"

"That's true. Though I am impressed you know of that." Qui-Gon nodded though she could sense the question lingering behind his eyes.

"You'd be surprised how much you learn while on the job." Una smirked as they strode out after their group back onto the main street "my old captain once took me to an ancient Jedi Temple on Jedha. A small chunk of rock orbiting the planet NaJedha in the Terrabe Sector. We were restocking and stretching out our legs after a long voyage in space when we stumbled across a rather nasty smuggling operation gone wrong."

"What was being smuggled?" Qui-Gon asked even as she reached down into her jumpsuit and pulled out the amber crystal shard that sat upon a chain around her neck.

"Kyber Crystals. These babies are quite a hot black market luxury commodity. Sell enough to the right fat cat, and you're set for life. Or at least that's what I thought we were going to do" Una's smile softened as she fingered the crystal over in her grasp. "You can imagine my surprise when my captain told me we were going to help return those crystals to the temple priests and bring in the smugglers."

"I take it you succeeded in your task," Qui-Gon said his voice quiet and thoughtful. "And yet you still kept a shard for yourself?"

"I didn't steal it if that's what you're wondering" Una's smile vanished as she quickly tucked the crystal back under her jumpsuit. "I found it while we were pursuing the smugglers through the temple, and the priests let me keep it as a reward once we finished the job. They said, if the crystal chose me to be its keeper then it rightfully belongs to me, whatever that's supposed to mean. Well, I wasn't going to complain seeing as it's probably the highest payment I've ever received, and it's not like I'm going to sell it-Hey are you okay?"

She frowned as she caught sight of the old Jedi's face which had all but turned to stone as she had prattled on with her story.

Upon catching sight of her confusion, Qui-Gon quickly shook his head and forced a small smile back on his face.

"Yes, yes. I'm fine. Forgive me; I think the heat is getting to me."

"Well, it's a good thing we're nearly at the kids' place. Don't want my ticket out of here dying of heatstroke." She muttered the last bit under her breath, but Qui-Gon paid it no heed as they were ushered into a small stone slaves house by an excitable Anakin.

He was so distracted by the boy that he did not notice Una's face slip back into a scowl behind his back.

Damn, she was getting too close to the job. What was she thinking? Why was she blurting out her story like that to a Jedi of all people?

Then again, there was something about Qui-Gon that put her strangely at ease. He didn't feel like someone who would snitch on her, not like Zotar Sil. And therein lay the danger. She was getting too comfortable, and that meant she would get complacent, and complacency almost always led to disaster.

 _Perhaps I should spend tonight on the ship instead. Being out in the desert away from this interfering old coot might clear my head for a bit. Then I'll come back into the town tomorrow for the race, meet Slyde and then we'll all be on our merry way to Coruscant, assuming the race goes in our favour._

She glanced at the boy as he led all his new friends outside to look at his battered slightly rusted looking pod racer.

Padme was right; they were putting a lot of faith in a child who could barely reach the foot pedals. Yet deep down Una could feel that there was more to this boy than met the eye and that maybe, just maybe, he might be their only hope.

* * *

Obi-Wan Kenobi stared out from the Nubian ships lowered ramp. The Twin suns were both finally sinking below the horizon on Tattooine and with each minute they fell, a surprising chill that made him shiver ever so slightly even in his thick robes.

It was a welcome change from the heat of the twin suns, yet the Jedi Padawan could not help but feel uneasy as he stared out over the sandy dunes, stained pink and gold in the dimming lights. A surprisingly beautiful snapshot of otherwise dull surroundings.

"Excuse me master Jedi" a smooth feminine voice called, and Obi-Wan turned to see one of the queen's handmaidens step out towards him carrying two cups in her hands.

She had dark hair and sweet doe brown eyes, the same ones as the fake queen that had addressed him and his master that morning before they separated. Now that he got a proper look at her without the makeup, he could see she was a few years older than her queen, though she was still quite petite in build.

"I thought you could use something to warm you up, seeing as it started to get cold."

"That was very kind, thank you." Obi-Wan smiled as he accepted the drink "And please call me Obi-Wan, I am not a master yet."

"If that is the case, then you may call me Sabe as I am not the queen" the handmaid smiled gently as she turned her gaze to the deepening sunset.

"You know, for such a backwater planet it truly is quite beautiful at sunset. I can only imagine how lovely the sunrise must be"

"Indeed, until that unbearable heat returns" Obi-Wan added softly, and Sabe sighed.

"I know, it is one thing to bear the heat in my handmaid's clothes but while I dressed in the queen's garb…" she trailed off shaking her head, and Obi-Wan glanced at her in pity.

"You're worried for your queen."

"Constantly" Sabe rolled her eyes fondly "Padme may be the ruler of our planet, and sure she is wise and graceful beyond her years, but sometimes she can be just as headstrong and impulsive as any teenager."

"Well I wouldn't worry about that if I were you, my master has much experience in dealing with headstrong teenagers" Obi-Wan smirked, and Sabe chuckled softly.

"I assume you are talking about yourself?"

"Perhaps" Obi-Wan joined in her chuckles but quickly paused as he felt a wave of emotion suddenly hit him through the force.

"Is everything alright?" Sabe frowned in concern for Obi-Wan's face had gone pale.

"No…no it isn't" he looked around swiftly, focussing his mind for the waves of panic and frustration that rolled over him even as he handed his cup back to Sabe and strode further down the ramp.

"Quick, get back into the ship and tell everyone to stay alert." He ordered as he finally was able to lock onto the direction of his quarry. "I need to check something."

"Do you think we're in danger? Has someone from the Trade Federation found us?" Sabe asked her voice, tinged with fear.

"I'm not sure, but I will be back as soon as I am able. Till then keep safe inside and put the shields up and the weapons are ready to fire" Obi-Wan called out, now almost running across the chilly desert sands away from the ship.

The light around him was dim as the last rays of the second sun began to vanish beyond the horizon line, but Obi-Wan didn't pay them much heed. After all, he had the force to guide him.

He wrapped his cloak tight about him as the chilly air this wasn't a trap laid by the enemy. Yet deep down, he could feel that this wasn't the case.

Unbidden, a memory from earlier that day swirled in his head

 _"Now be a good boy and run along back to the ship, before the sand people get you. I'm seriously not kidding about that last one. You don't want to cross them, especially at night on your own. You really will be chopped up and served to the dogs if you don't make it back to the ship before the suns start setting."_

 _Sand people…hmm…perhaps this is just a false alarm. Perhaps the force is just warning me of nearby danger and telling me to be vigilant._

Yet even though the thought crossed his mind, still, his feet kept running forwards in the darkening sand.

No, the force would not be so disturbed if it were merely warning him to be on his guard. Someone was in trouble, and they needed help.

But who? And were they friend or foe?

His question was answered as he came over the crest of a nearby dune and looked down, his heart sinking further in his chest.

In the dim light of the sinking sun, several figures in rough robes and masks and carrying Vibro-staffs stood in a ring around a young woman with a red jacket, a blue jumpsuit and long black hair streaked with grey.

"You've got to be kidding me" Obi-Wan rolled his eyes.

* * *

 **Wow, that was a marathon and a half to nut out. anyways I hope you all enjoyed this chapter now things are actually starting to heat up a little.**

 **if you enjoyed please fave or review and I'll see you all next time.**

 **Cheers**

 **Fuzzybeta**


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 – Under the Twin Tuskan Suns**

 _"Hey, you got a moment?"_

 _The tall, rust skinned Deveronian looked up from the tracking device he'd been studying in his palm. In the doorway to his small ships quarters was a female Twi-Lek with yellow and orange skin._

 _She was smirking softly as she gently led a much smaller figure out from where it crouched frightened behind her legs. It was a little girl with thick wavy dark hair and bright amber eyes. While her body was still malnourished, she had at least been cleaned and was no longer wearing those dirty rags. Instead, she was wearing a small tunic of dark red over a small pair of black pants that were rolled up several times around the ankles so that she could walk in them._

 _"Well, well. Looks like you clean up nice little lady" the Deveronian smiled warmly down at the little girl who blushed scarlet and shrank back into the Twi-Lek's legs._

 _The Deveronian sighed._

 _"Still shy, huh?"_

 _"Not even a peep out of her." The Twi-Lek snorted "Scraps put all this together for her from our old clothes, so it should last her till we get to the next port."_

 _"Well, I suppose that will have to do for now." The Deveronian pursed his lips thoughtfully. "In the meanwhile, I guess we should at least find out this little one's name."_

 _"Tried that already" the Twi-Lek sighed as the girl, sensing all attention on her once more, began to shrink away still further behind her legs shaking her head._

 _"What's that? You won't give us your name?" the Deveronian quirked a brow as she shook her head. She looked if possible even more nervous as she stared down at her toes._

 _Then it hit him._

 _"Are you not telling us your name because you don't want to?"_

 _Again another shake of the head, and this time he saw the amber eyes brighten with unshed tears of shame._

 _"Is it because you can't remember your name?" He murmured, his voice now gentler and more measured as he knelt in front of her._

 _The little girl nodded meekly, not meeting his eyes._

 _The Deveronian looked up at the Twi-Lek whose eyes were full of pity, as she petted the top of the child's head as she began to sniffle and sniff down tears._

 _"It's alright little one; we're not angry. We only want to know more about you since you're going to be staying with us."_

 _But the little girl just continued to sniff and cry where she stood. She couldn't help it. She couldn't recall the last time someone ever asked her for something so kindly. And it was her name, a name she couldn't even remember because no one had used it in so long._

 _She felt a pair of large warm arms encircle her comfortingly as the Deveronian gave her a brief but bracing hug._

 _"Hey, hey. It's okay. You don't have to be scared." He pulled away, and as he did so, pulled off his red leather jacket and put it around her tiny shoulders._

 _It was so large that it fell over her more like a cape. However, there was something about the feel of the leather and the smell that made her feel at ease even as the Deveronian reached out to wipe her streaming eyes with his shirt sleeve._

 _"Don't worry kid we'll figure something out. Nothing's going to happen to you while you're in this ship, not as long as I'm around. I promise."_

* * *

Shmi Skywalker watched closely at the scene around her. Qui-Gon was quietly meditating in a corner while the sweet girl Padme and that clumsy Gungan Jar-Jar helped wash the dishes from that day's afternoon meal.

Meanwhile, in a corner, the Astro-droid Artoo beeped happily as he stood next to Anakin who was sitting on the floor alongside a young woman with dark hair streaked with grey and fiddling with pieces of C3P0's circuitry.

When her son had told her that a bounty hunter would be visiting along with his new friends, she had been nervous. Hunters were commonplace in Mos Espa, but very few were civil to civilians, let alone slaves.

But the girl, Una, to the older woman's surprise, had been just as polite and courteous as Padme if a bit rougher and gruffer in her speech. Indeed, she treated the older woman and her son as equals and had offered to help Anakin repair his pod-racer with spare parts taken from Scuds shop.

Her eyes softened on her son and the young bounty hunter sitting on the floor, the former laughing at the latter's rather funny recount about one of her adventures as a youth.

Even Padme and Jar-Jar were smiling at the story from their spot in the kitchen.

Shmi, however, could not help but notice that every so often Una's hand would reach up to unconsciously rub a thin but prominent scar on her lower neck.

It was a very simple habit Shmi had seen many times before in slaves that were owned by the Hutts.

Most slave owners usually put slavers chips in their slave's arms, legs or torsos. However, the Hutt Cartel was infamous for always put theirs around the neck and or head. This was to prevent their slaves from cutting off a limb to free themselves.

Shmi herself had one in a similar spot, but on the opposite side of the neck from the time Gardulla, the Hutt first enslaved her. There was one in her son's neck as well, but Shmi never told him its location. She was too afraid that he would accidentally trigger its self-destruct mechanism if he were to try to scan or remove it.

She wondered how Una had been freed, and at such a young age too for she could tell the scar was old. She was good looking enough to serve in a pleasure house. Or with her tough mentality and fighting skills, she could've made a decent bodyguard.

It gave the older woman hope and relief to see that a person just like her son might have a chance to live a free life no matter what their circumstances at birth. However, she wasn't quite sure that Qui-Gon and the others had fully understood the magnitude of the situation.

Freed slaves were often very sensitive about their pasts and were not above cutting all ties to their origins. Shmi couldn't blame them. She and Anakin were lucky for Watto was considered one of the more _benevolent_ and meeker slave owners. He didn't punish them often even if he did curse uncouthly. Other slaves weren't as lucky, and it wasn't uncommon to see them limping and dragging themselves along the alleyways at night, bloody and bruised after a horrific thrashing, or worse.

 _Wherever this girl was enslaved, it must have been quite horrific if she tries so hard to run away from it._

Shmi sighed as she glanced up and saw Qui-Gon eyeing both Anakin and Una from the corner of his eye.

While she was sure the Jedi did not mean any harm, Shmi could feel that if he continued to push the young woman any further with his prying, he'd do a lot more damage than good. Perhaps she should tell him about what she suspected-

Her thoughts were interrupted as Una stood to her feet with a grunt and dusted herself off.

"Alright, I guess I better be off now. Thank you for dinner, Mam, it was lovely" she bobbed her head politely at Shmi as she stretched out her arms out above her head, and Anakin frowned.

"You're going to leave now? But it'll get dark soon."

"I'm afraid Anakin is right; you may be armed; however, it does get perilous outside at night once both suns are down." Shmi's brows furrowed in concern but Una just smiled.

"Don't worry; I'll be careful. Besides we're closer to the ship from here than we were coming from the main roads. It'll only get dark by the time I reach the ship."

"The ship?" Qui-Gon's eyes narrowed upon her, all pretence of his meditation gone now. "You wish to go into the desert at this time?"

"Of course," Una replied, sparing a stiff glance to a suspicious Padme. "Don't you think it would look rather suspicious if two of the queen's stronger protectors are out here in town with one of her handmaidens instead of being at the ship with her? Or at the very least returning to give a report?"

Padme frowned; she hadn't thought about it like that. Still, if what Shmi and Anakin had told them about Tattooine's inhabitants were true then it would be incredibly dangerous to trek into the desert alone at this time. Padme may not have liked Una that much, yet she still valued the fellow woman's life, if only because she carried information that could help secure her planet's safety.

Una, however, seemed determined to get a move on, and it wasn't long before she bid them all a good evening and left the small unit.

"I'll see you all at the track tomorrow before the races!"

Qui-Gon tried to go after her, but had only reached the threshold when he was stopped by a gentle hand on his sleeve.

"Mister Jinn, I don't think that's a good idea" Shmi Skywalker's voice was soft but firm as she pulled him back from the door.

"I take it you know something about her that I do not" Qui-Gon quirked a brow as he felt the slave woman's apprehension through the force. Yet she was quick to steady herself as she nodded quietly.

"No…at least I don't think I know…all I have is a hunch."

"Yet you think your _hunch_ is correct?" Qui-Gon folded his arms in front of him as Shmi nodded quietly.

"I think so, yes. But now's not the time. She'll need her wits out there if she wants to make it back alive, and you all need your rest soon."

"Of course, forgive me. Let us head inside" Qui-Gon bobbed his head courteously to his host, though his mind was racing as he mulled over the emotions, he felt from her.

She certainly knew more than she was letting on about the girl, even though it was clear that neither of them had ever met before in their lives.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud clang, and he turned around quickly, only to sigh as he caught sight of Jar-Jar trying to pick up something he had clumsily swatted to the ground by accident.

Qui-Gon sighed heavily. Perhaps he should have kept the Gungan on the ship after all.

* * *

 _And this is why I hate dust balls like this._

Una groaned softly as she reached the crest of the tall dune. She was just outside the small town of Mos Espa, having left via the Slaves quarters. After a short stretch of flat yellow stone, the desert sands began to loom up, their yellow colour morphing to reds, pinks and blues as both twin suns began to descend toward the horizon.

Una turned to look back at the town, eyes scanning her surroundings like two amber lasers. No one seemed to be following her, and already the chill wind was wiping away any bootprints she had left behind her.

Despite her isolation, she still could not help but feel an uncomfortable prickle on the nape of her neck and without pausing to hesitate, she pulled out her rifle from its holster on her back. If her instincts were right, then now was certainly not the time for half measures.

She whipped her head around as she heard something whoosh overhead, just in time to see a rather small, sleek, jet black ship zoom over the city.

She shivered as what felt like a cold breeze, brush over her skin for a moment, however even she could tell that it wasn't from the cold night air. No…that ship was more sinister than it looked and that could only mean one thing…

 _The Trade Federation, they've found us_ … _but then why is it heading away from us?_

She frowned as she followed the dark ship's path through the air as it zoomed over Mos Espa towards the desert on the other side.

 _So they've traced us to the planet…just not to our exact location. I wonder how long it will take them to find us? Will they do a physical search or send probes? Either way, we're running out of time._

Una chewed her lip as the craft flew out of sight and into the gathering night.

 _I need to get back to the ship._

She turned back to her path, her finger now hovering over her rifle's trigger as she observed the surrounding sands. Was it just her imagination, or had a dune shifted and resettled itself not too far off?

"Shit" she cursed as she took in the darkening skies. Damn it, she should have spent more time walking and less time sightseeing. Now she was stuck in the desert with what appeared to be a Tuskan ambush lying in wait.

 _Some ambush. I spotted that raider easily. Perhaps a little too easily-And I was right._

Una rolled her eyes to herself as suddenly she caught sight of a pair of shadows leaping out of the sand beside her.

She aimed her rifle at the figure in front which crumpled as soon as the red beam of light hit it in the chest. However, her next shot to the humanoid that had appeared beside it was halted by something thin and heavy whacking her ribs from the side.

Half-blind in the ever-growing darkness Una thrashed and caught the long vibro-spear in her hand using it to throw her shadowy attacker into one of his fellows. But it wasn't enough, and it was only by a hairs breath that she managed to duck just in time to avoid the circle of blaster shots aimed for her by all her attackers.

All their weapons were aiming at her head ready to fire.

 _Shit! Shit-Shit-Shit-Shit-Shit!_

Una gritted her teeth as she turned her rifle around in a circle, trying and failing to find an opening or weak link in the circle around her. But it was no use. There were seven Tuskans and only one of her. She was surrounded.

That was when she felt it, for the second time that day, the feeling of everything slowing down to a snails crawl. She heard the shifting of sand as it was disturbed by rushing feet on a dune, felt the change in breath as all the Tuskans whipped their heads around to look at the new arrival.

She could see, even in the almost complete dark of night, the details of each of their ragged robes and desert shawls as they turned their bodies, exposing their ribs and backs to her.

She sucked in a deep breath, that lasted only a second, though it felt more like a lifetime as within the blink of an eye she aimed three shots at the three Tuskans in front of her.

With distorted squeals of pain, each raider fell to the ground, a smoking hole in the back of each of their heads.

Their three remaining Raiders all roared with fury as they saw their brothers in arms crumple into the sands, and rounded on Una with malicious guttural growls.

They were too close in reach for her rifle, so instead, she swung it's blunt end at the nearest one, smashing it over the face with the butt of her gun. It stumbled back but was quick to rally back with its vibro-staff which Una caught as it came swinging down, along with the staff of another Raider.

"Oh, come on!" she grunted as her feet began to sink into the sand beneath her feet. This handicap, combined with the two Tuskans bearing down upon her, made it very difficult to focus on the final third Tuskan who had raised his blaster in his hands and was aiming it at her side.

Then suddenly, a bright blue light flashed down upon the third raider, who screamed and hollered in agony. The source of his pain soon became apparent as, illuminated in the light of the thin blue beam of purest light, a severed arm still clutching a blaster fell into the sand.

Una and the two remaining Tuskans both stared in shock at the holder of the beam of light which was getting up to his feet. As he stood up from his crouch, Una couldn't help but marvel a little at the impressive sight of the padawan braid and robes fluttering in the cold night breeze. Now she could sort of understand why everyone was so in awe of these jedi...almost.

"Looks like you could use some help" Obi-Wan Kenobi smirked at the two attackers and the bounty hunter, who scowled angrily back.

 _Just look at him, smirking away at me like that? Just because he had to leap in for the rescue as if I'm some damsel in distress?! Asshole._

However, to her credit, she decided against retorting and instead used her enemies distraction to push them away. They stumbled back, tripping over in the sand however before they could regain their footing she had already dropped her rifle and sliced each of them around the throat with a thin but sharp knife she had stowed in her boot.

Blood splattered across the sand, some of it spurting out onto Una's hands, face and feet, though she was quick to step away from the bodies before it got all over her beloved jacket.

Obi-Wan took a step back, grimacing with a mixture of disgust and pity at the brutality of the kills while behind him the last remaining Tuskan Raider was whimpering and cradling his smouldering stump of an arm.

The Jedi turned to face him, opening his mouth to ask a question, only to jump in surprise as a blaster shot flew by his elbow and hit the injured humanoid dead in the centre of his forehead. With a grunt, the Tuskan's body hit the ground with a thud.

"Was that necessary?" Obi-Wan sighed in exasperation as he turned around. Una was standing behind him, her rifle now back in her hands as she lowered it to point at the ground.

"He wasn't going to talk" Una grunted as she knelt to one of the Tuskans and tore off a "clean" scrap of his worn-out shawl. With it, she wiped the blood speckled over her face, only to find more of it coating her hand as she pushed her hand down to tuck the cloth into a pocket.

"You're bleeding" Obi-Wan strode forward quickly, keeping his lightsabre ignited, so it illuminated their spot amongst the dunes.

 _Damn…must have got it when that first bastard hit me with his staff._

"Tis but a scratch" Una rolled her eyes as she reached out to swat him away half-heartedly.

"A scratch? He sliced your side."

"No, he didn't-"

"Well, what's that then?" Obi-Wan scowled, and Una shrugged.

"I've had worse. Now come on, Junior. Let's get back to that ship-oops!"

Now it was Obi-Wan's turn to roll his eyes as she tried to step away, only to stumble headfirst into a dune. Whatever adrenaline rush she had that had kept her going through the fight seemed to have quickly worn off.

"Agh! Dammit, now I've got sand in my hair" she growled before snarling up at the now blue-black sky as she tried and failed to stand up "This is why I hate these dustballs! Now it's going to take me forever to wash it all out."

"You're unbelievable you are" Obi-Wan groaned as he strode forward, lightsabre still ignited in one hand, and help pull Una back onto her feet. "You've just been attacked and wounded, and the only thing you can think about is a little bit of sand in your hai-Ah!"

He cried out, his lightsabre flickering off as he and Una both overbalanced and fell into the dune together.

Despite her pain, Una couldn't help but laugh as she heard a stream of sand tumble down the side of the dune and straight onto the Jedi padawan's short auburn locks.

"Mm-hmm yes, because this is hilarious" he grumbled, thanking the force that the dark covered up the dark flush of embarrassment that flooded over his cheeks.

"Oh Junior, lighten up. Of course, it's hilarious. So hilarious that my sides are quite literally splitting apart-whoa!" Una cried out as she felt her injured side throb.

"I don't think its deep, but I'm going to need a big-ass bacta patch when we get back to the ship" she muttered, wincing as Obi-Wan reignited his lightsabre and held it out in front of them like a torch as he helped her gingerly to her feet. Once he was sure she could stand on her own, he picked up her rifle and helped her put it back in its holster on her back before slinging one of her arms around his neck and shoulders.

"Don't worry; we're not too far. It shouldn't take us too long."

"I'll take your word for it" Una grunted as they carefully took the first step up the dunes.

* * *

Their going was slow and steady, even with the light of the lightsabre illuminating their path. It didn't help that Una could not move too fast in one go and occasionally stumbled on the shifting sands.

She refused point blank, Obi-Wan's gallant offer to carry her.

"We are better off keeping our hands free to use in case we get attacked again." She had said, clutching at her aching, bleeding side as she did her best to apply pressure. Despite the logic in her words, Obi-Wan couldn't help but suspect that she was refusing more out of embarrassment than pragmatism.

However, between the two of them, they finally managed to reach the ship in a good solid hour, by which time they were both tired, shivering from the cold night air and covered head to foot in rough, course golden grains.

"I think you were right about that sand" Obi-Wan grimaced, using all his willpower to resist scratching and clawing at his itching scalp, as they both hobbled exhausted towards the ship which had opened its ramp to admit them.

"I told you. It gets everywhere" Una mumbled clutching at her side. She had been keeping the pressure on it for most of the journey, but even she for all her endurance had her limits.

She was just grateful that Captain Panaka and his men were quick to usher both her and Obi-Wan to the small medical room down in the ships hold. There one of the queen's handmaids was waiting for them, medical kits at the ready on a medical slab.

"I am only trained in first aid, but I will do what I can" the young woman nodded at Obi-Wan who was helping Una onto the slab.

"Alright, I'm going to need to get your jacket and suit down to clean the wound and put the bacta patch on. Master Jedi if you wouldn't mind helping me." The handmaid instructed, and though she was quite young, her voice was quite motherly and stern.

Though he looked a little uncomfortable Obi-Wan quickly helped Una shrug off her jacket and moved around to unzip her blue-black skin-tight jumpsuit.

"Well, well. Someone's nervous" Una smirked through gritted teeth as another pulse of pain travelled through her. "What's the matter junior, never undressed a woman before?"

Obi-Wan ignored her, though she couldn't help but notice the way his cheeks and ears had gone slightly pink as she turned her head to glance back at him through the corner of her eye.

He was conscientious about how he pulled the suit from the top half of her body, doing his best not to touch her skin, or even look at her as it peeled away from her body.

As he pulled the material away from the back, the handmaid-turned-medic helped Una tug it off from the front, being careful not to pull her wound too hard.

"Ah! That's better" Una groaned with relief as fresh air hit her sweaty skin.

Obi-Wan, however, was staring at her from behind with shock.

She was wearing a short, structured tank top, cropped just under the bust so that it only covered her chest. However, all over her back and sides, was a vast tapestry of scars. Big, small, old and new, nearly every inch of her skin had some mark.

The largest and oldest of these were three long slender claw marks.

"Nexu cat. Nal Hutta fighting pit."

Obi-Wan looked up. Una was still sitting on the medical slab and holding up her arm as the handmaid cleaned her fresh wound and applied the medical pack. It thankfully wasn't too big, or too deep. But she would have to keep the bacta pack on for at least a day.

"Pardon?" Obi-Wan shook his head out to clear it, and she rolled her eyes.

"The scars you're looking at, I got them from a Nexu cat on Nal Hutta. And the ones above that, the blaster scars on my left shoulder. Got those from a rather nasty Mon Calamari spice smuggler I was chasing six years ago."

"It sounds like you've led a rather hectic life" Obi-Wan raised his eyebrows, while the handmaid's eyes widened in horror.

"Six years ago? But-but you couldn't have been older than-"

"Fourteen. Yeah," Una shrugged casually, as she began to pull up her jumpsuit once more. "But that's just part of the job. You don't dodge in time you get shot. Ain't that right junior?"

"Only too true" Obi-Wan nodded gravely, remembering his first injuries he had obtained early in his apprenticeship. He wouldn't be surprised if his own back were covered in nasty wounds.

A thoughtful silence seemed to fall over the room, one which seemed to make the young handmaid uncomfortable as she quietly excused herself, taking her kit with her.

Once she was out Obi-Wan turned back to Una, arms folded. "I take it you've been in hunting bounty's most of your life. Were your parent's hunters?"

"To hell if I know." a now fully clothed Una winced as she accidentally pulled on her injured side.

"You were a foundling?"

"Pretty much yeah. But I wasn't alone for too long. Got taken in by a bounty hunting crew when I was little, and well, the rest is history." Una grunted as she rolled her head and neck around, sighing a little in relief as her bones cracked nicely.

"Ah, that's good. God, I'm starving, I could eat a whole Rancor."

"There's some food in the galley, I think." Obi-Wan sighed as they both made their way over to the door.

Yet even as she reached the threshold, Una felt herself stumble.

"I'm okay" she mumbled as Obi-Wan helped her straighten up against the doorframe. "Thanks"

"Uh…you're welcome" Obi-Wan blinked in surprise, and she scowled.

"What? You think just because I'm a hunter I won't have manners?"

When Obi-Wan just stared at her unable to find an answer she sighed:

"Listen, I may not be too fond of you or your Old Man, but you did me a real solid by helping me out there on the dunes. So… I guess what I'm trying to say is since you did…I will uh…listen the gist of it is you helped me so now I'll do what I can to help you, got it? Good. Glad we got that sorted out." And with that she turned swiftly on her heels and marched away down a corridor, cursing herself as her cheeks began to burn as hot as the twin Tattooine suns.

Meanwhile, behind her, Obi-Wan's stunned face slowly morphed into a small amused smirk as he folded his arms and shook his head.

Perhaps his master had been right about Una Crest after all.

* * *

A tall figure garbed all in black stepped out from the small, sleek dark space craft, raising a high-tech pair of binocular scanners to its eyes.

From his vantage point on this mesa, there were three settlements close to the rough co-ordinates he had traced. But to which one should he search first?

He couldn't hunt down his prey in person. It would arouse too much suspicion and also these weren't his usual kind of victim. These were Jedi. If he revealed himself even one second before he killed them then his whole mission-no- his master's entire life's work would be ruined.

He couldn't have that. His master was counting on him to help him bring the sith back out of the shadows and into power. He would be no use to the cause if he were to die because of one mistake.

 _I shall send the probes to each settlement first._

He clicked a few buttons on one of his black arm bracers, and at once, three black spheres with antennae zoomed out from his space craft and out into the vast expanse of desert.

The dark figure watched them go with narrowed flame-yellow eyes.

Soon, very soon, the Jedi, the bounty hunter and the queen would be in his grasp.

* * *

Qui-Gon stared down at the readings his apprentice had just sent him via their communicators.

He could not believe it. It was almost impossible that it should have happened.

A force-sensitive child, with the highest midi-chlorian count ever recorded, had been conceived purely through the will of the Force itself.

 _The prophecy…this must be the chosen one. The one that will bring balance to the force._

He looked down from where he stood on the roof of the building Shmi and her son lived in with the other slaves from their sector of the town.

To think he would find the chosen one here of all places-then again some Jedi had been born into worse circumstances and still become incredible knights for the order.

But those knights had been few and far between. The Jedi Order rarely ever came out to these remote Outer Rim planets to search for Force Sensitive younglings. There were so many to be found in the mid and upper rim in comparison, that no one truly ever bothered to expand the search.

After all, the galaxy was prospering, and all seemed peaceful. Or so they had thought.

 _In our complacency, we have grown arrogant and ignorant of those outside the Republic's reach. And one day we shall pay the price. How soon that will be, that is the question._

Qui-Gon frowned darkly, as images of both Anakin Skywalker and Una Crest floated over his minds eye.

From the scan Obi-Wan had taken from a blood sample, she too seemed to have a high enough midi-cholorian count to be a strong Jedi. She certainly had the reflexes of one. Reflexes that had been trained well by someone who knew the force.

Qui-Gon's eyes hardened as his mind wandered back to the Deveronian he had glimpsed in the marketplace. It had only been for a split second, but Qui-Gon was sure he had been there watching them. Not only that but his face had been unnervingly familiar…

 _But no…it couldn't be could it? If so then why would he turn up again after all these years?_

The old Jedi sighed. This mission was turning out to be more confusing by the minute.

He could only hope everything went well tomorrow at the races. If not, then he had a strong feeling that there would be more than just the Trade Federation on his tail.

* * *

Una stood on the ramp of the ship, her hands on her hips as she stared out at the twin suns peeking out over the top of the horizon.

Daybreak at last. She had rested all night and had changed the bacta pad when she had woken up. Her wound in her side had stopped bleeding; however, she wasn't out of the woods yet. The skin on her side had only just started healing over and was still very tender. One wrong struggle and it would open again, possibly worse than before.

Her ears pricked as she heard a pair of footsteps approach from behind. But it was only Obi-Wan. He had been a lot less hostile with her since last night. Indeed, his entire posture was relaxed as he made to stand beside her, looking out over the vast desert.

"Are you still sure you want to leave?" He asked quietly, eyes on the dunes.

"Normally I wouldn't. But I told the Old Man I'd meet him at the races. Don't worry." She added smirking "Boonta Eve is one of the few holidays here where even the Galaxy's worst scum hang up their blasters for at least a couple of drinks. As long as I keep my head down and don't ruffle anyone's feathers or scales, I should be fine."

"I suppose even crime needs a break sometimes" Obi-Wan rolled his eyes sardonically and Una chuckled.

"And that is where you're wrong. As my crew used to say, criminals may take breaks, but crime does not"

"I suppose that is true" Obi-Wan nodded, but she could still see the concern in his eyes.

She sighed heavily.

"Listen, Junior, it's sweet of you to worry about little ole' me, but I've been in this business a very long time. If I couldn't walk off a scratch like this, then I would have been one of Jabba's table scraps a long time ago."

"I understand. But it's not just your injury that worries me." Obi-Wan looked to the sky "Something else is here, cold and elusive. I'm not quite sure what it is, but I am certain I felt it pass over us last night. I couldn't say for certain, but I think-"

"The Trade Federation has found us and have sent someone to track us planet-side. Yeah I know" Una grimaced grimly, and Obi-Wan turned sharply towards her eyes narrowed.

"You know? But how?"

"I know because I saw a stealth craft fly over my head last night as I left the town. One that was way too expensive and sleek to belong to any Bounty Hunter" Una explained, calm as a cucumber even as Obi-Wan stared at her aghast "given what I have seen I'd have it a guess the Trade Feds may have sent an assassin of some kind. But they don't seem to know where we are; otherwise they'd have landed closer or in the spaceport at least and not on the mesa on the other side."

"If you saw this last night, why didn't you say anything?" Obi-Wan asked warily and was rewarded with a scathing glower from the woman beside him.

"First off I was ambushed and injured by those Tuskans, so I didn't have much time to think about possible assassins. Secondly, I talked to the other handmaidens last night before I went to sleep and I discovered that they had foolishly accepted a transmission from Naboo that was a trap to flush us out."

"And that prevented you from telling us because?" Obi-Wan quirked an eyebrow and was not disappointed when she rolled her eyes.

"Because genius, if these pacifist buffoons were naive enough to fall for an obvious trap while we are safe and calm, what do you think they'd do if they felt like they were backed into a corner? These people are not like you or me; they don't know what to do with themselves when danger is pursuing them. One or two might have brains, but as a collective, they'll be more prone to make stupid decisions when desperate. And those stupid decisions could cost all of us our lives, or worse."

Obi-Wan opened his mouth to speak, only to shut it hastily. He almost hated to admit it, but she had a point. While some of the pilots and guards were savvy enough to keep their heads low in a crisis, the handmaids and other civilians aboard this ship would certainly panic if they felt they were no longer safe and secure.

"I suppose you are right" The young Jedi padawan conceded with a slow nod, glancing at Una out of the corner of his eye. She met his gaze, and her amber eyes narrowed warily.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just admiring the view" Obi-Wan smirked as he turned back to look at the dunes.

He didn't even need to look at Una to know that she was rolling her eyes once more as she began to walk out into the heat, shading her eyes with her hand.

"Alright, I best be getting off before the suns rise too high." She muttered before glancing back at Obi-Wan over her shoulder "You and the boys don't need anything, do you? Only there won't be many shops open to get any supplies till after the races."

"I think we'll be fine. I'll message you if we need anything" Obi-Wan folded his arms in his robes as he watched her go. "May the Force be with you."

"And with you, Junior" Una gave a two-fingered salute as she carefully armed herself with her blaster rifle and set out into the desert.

Obi-Wan watched her go and had to admit that despite her size and build, she struck a surprisingly impressive figure with her red leather jacket, powerful blaster rifle and long cornrow ponytail.

He could only hope he didn't need to rush out there and rescue her again before she got to the town.

* * *

The tall Deveronian male watched curiously from his spot in the large racetrack hangar. All around him, pod-racers were applying last-minute adjustments and fixes to their vehicles. Some were even applying the finishing coats of paint and fuel.

But it was the sight of three figures that held the Deveronian's attention. A tall gangly and clumsy Gungan stood behind a tall middle-aged human man, who was facing a blue rugged Toydaryan male who was rattling a pair of dice in front of his nose.

"We'll let Fate decide hmm. I just so happen to have a chance cube here. Blue is the boy. Red…his mother" the blue buzzing alien sneered.

The human looked unphased, but the Deveronian could see his grey eyes harden ever so slightly on the crude dice as it was rolled on the floor, his hand oh-so-casually flicking at the hem of his poncho.

 _Look at you; you haven't changed a bit. Always trying to be so clever. Hmm…let's see if you've still got it._

One of the Deveronian's fingers twitched as he too watched the dice which had almost rolled to a stop on one of its edges, stuck between red and blue.

The Toydaryian was chewing his gums anxiously, quite literally hovering between cheering with victory or cursing with loss as the dice teetered back and forth tantalisingly between red and blue.

The human man frowned ever so slightly as his gaze hardened on the dice and the Deveronain smirked. This was just too much fun.

Then suddenly, the human man's fingers twitched, and the dice fell onto the blue side.

 _Well darn, he's still got it._

The Deveronian smirked with amusement as he glanced at the Toydaryian who was all but spitting with rage.

"You've won this small toss outlander, but you won't winna the race, so it makes little difference."

And with that, the small Toydaryian zoomed off in the air, snarling and seering at those who passed.

Once the Toydaryian had gone, the Human man looked around the hangar with a wary scowl. When his eyes found the Deveronian, they widened ever so slightly.

The Deveronian just smirked and put a finger to his lips in a shushing movement. Yet even as the human man took one step forward the grunting of two tall four-legged mounts diverted his attention.

The Deveronian sauntered after the Human's path, keeping his distance as he watched the human man approach another group of humans, two women and two boys, who had just dismounted from the creatures.

Behind them, two droids pulled along a racing pod slowly into the hangar. One of them was a silver and blue astromech, the other, an unfinished protocol droid with no protective plating.

"oh my space travel sounds rather perilous," the protocol droid said in a slightly effeminate male voice as the little astromech beside him beeped happily along "I assure you they won't drag me onto one of those dreadful starships."

"Never say never" the Deveronian muttered, stopping to a halt by a few crates just a few feet away from the strange group of humans and machines.

"Excuse me for one second" the human man murmured to the older of the two human women before turning his face to the Deveronian, a brow quirking.

"You know you could've just walked up and said hello. Nothing was stopping you." The human said softly folding his arms.

"But that wouldn't nearly have been so much fun." The Deveronian smirked, looking the human up and down. "Your hairs greyer."

"Your horns are duller" the Human countered, but his posture was swift to relax as both he and the Deveronian chuckled and stepped towards one another and grasped each other's arms in friendly comradery.

"It's good to see you Qui-Gon." The Deveronian, Slyde, grinned.

"You as well Slyde" Qui-Gon muttered as he pulled away to inspect his friend at arm's length. "The life of a bounty hunter suits you."

"Well, it pays to keep a roof over my head and food in my belly so I can't complain. How long has it been? Twenty years?"

"Twenty-five" Qui-Gon corrected quietly. "You're here for the races I take it?"

"Only for the big one. I was hoping to find someone here, but they don't seem to have arrived yet." Slyde glanced over the rest of the hangar.

"I suppose it won't be easy chasing a bounty in the crowd" Qui-Gon nodded, and Slyde snorted with laughter.

"Bounty? Nah. I'm not looking for a bounty. Well not yet anyway. No, one of my informants told me my old protégé was down here on a job. I wanted to check in with her. See how she's going on her mission and figure out how she ended up helping _you_ of all people _._ "

"She" Qui-Gon's whole body stiffened as his eyes narrowed suspiciously. Then he sighed heavily and rubbed a hand over his hair. "By Force, you have got to be kidding me."

"You're telling me" a new voice spoke up from behind their backs.

Both men turned to see Una Crest standing right behind them arms folded and a deadly scowl spread across her entire face.

"Hey, there, kiddo." Slyde's smirk softened as he met the young woman's eyes.

"Hey yourself. I see the two of you are already acquainted" she looked suspiciously between Qui-Gon and Slyde. "Old friends?"

"you could say that. Though it's been a while" Slyde admitted quietly, sharing a knowing glance with Qui-Gon who nodded once with understanding before taking a step back.

"Indeed. Forgive me, but I need to check in with Anakin at his pod, then we'll be headed to one of the platforms to watch the race. You're both welcome to join us if you'd like." He offered courteously.

"We'll join you in a bit, thanks Qui-Gon" Slyde nodded turning back to Una.

"I thought you were chasing down Jabba's runaway accountant" She narrowed her eyes up at him.

"And so I was. I'm going to meet the great slug after the race to collect the reward." Slyde's smirk dropped ever so slightly as his eyes wandered over her sides.

"You look like you've been put through the wringer? Tough night?"

"Ran into some Tuskans in the desert. Nothing I couldn't handle." Una muttered as her hand hovered over her injured side.

"Oh Una, Una, Una. Always getting into trouble. First the Trade Feds now the Tuskan Raiders. Whatever are we going to do with you" Slyde sighed with a grin?

"It wasn't my fault. The Trade Feds didn't want to pay me; and the Tuskans, well you know how they are with strangers on their land" she grumbled mulishly, her ears burning with embarrassment, even as Slyde folded his arms and quirked a brow.

"I see… And what's this I hear about you picking Fights with Zotar Sil-"

"Pick fights? What am I a five year old?" Una growled "I didn't pick a fight with Zotar, he tried pouncing onto me like a creep, so I kicked his ass to the curb."

"I suppose that checks out." Slyde folded his arms. "Still, that Torgrutan is a nasty piece of work, and you've already got a few people on your tail without him adding to the mess."

"Zotar Sil is nothing but a pathetic whimpering sleemo Slyde. You and I both know that. I could take him down blindfolded with both hands behind my back." Una scoffed, but Slyde just sighed and leaned in close to murmur.

"Yes, he is a pathetic sleemo. But he's a pathetic sleemo with a big mouth and an ear for gossip. Which is, unfortunately, he is putting to good use amongst Jabba's men. If he hears about what happened with your last job, you could be in big trouble. You need to be careful."

"And I am careful" Una hissed angrily "Seriously, the way you're going on, one would think I'm still a youngling. Honestly Old Geezer, I love you but how the hell am I going to make a name for myself if you keep poking your nose into my jobs?"

"It's a good thing I do, considering all the trouble you keep getting into." Slyde snorted, his pointed face now looking stern. "Look things are getting heated in the underworld, especially now this Naboo blockade is in place. The Trade Federation seems to have reached out to a lot of illegal arms dealers and droid manufacturers to help them build their invasion force, and anyone who dares speak out or tries to leave are all getting eliminated one by one."

"Eliminated? Oh, I knew it! I knew they had an assassin on the payroll." Una groaned slapping her forehead, only for her brow to furrow. "Wait if they had an assassin on board then why did they hire me to find that drone that stole that data-chip?"

"I don't know" Slyde muttered "I guess that the assassin was already on another assignment and they wanted someone to bring him in alive. But that doesn't matter anymore. Now that you've defected they'll be coming after you, and you'll need all the allies you can get if you are going to make it out of this alive. If what I've heard about all those assassinations is true, you're dealing with a real cold-blooded killer, one you are not prepared to face. And I'm not saying that because you're my kid. I'm saying that because I've seen the results of what he's done. Una, this guy…he's a monster. And the farther you are away from him, the better you will be."

Una stared at her old mentor, completely dumbfounded. She'd never heard him speak like this before. Oh, of course, Slyde could be severe on the job when he wasn't too busy trying to look cool or impress the ladies, but this was different. She had never heard him sound so…afraid. Whoever this assassin was, he must have been quite a nasty piece of work to have earned Slyde Crest's fear.

"Look Slyde" Una reached up to her mentor's hand on her shoulder, her touch surprisingly gentle like her voice "I know you're worried. And if what your telling me is true, then you have every right to be frightened. But I've got a job to do monster or no monster. I helped play a part in making this mess, so it's only right I try my best to help them fix it. Now you can come with me if you want or leave me be, that's your choice. Either way, I'm not running and neither should you unless you want to spend your whole life running rather than living?"

Despite himself, Slyde chuckled under his breath.

"Since when did you get so wise and all-knowing?"

"I don't know. Maybe the damn Jedi are rubbing off on me" Una coughed as a voice announced something in huttese over a loud-speaker.

"We should get moving. They're getting ready for the race." She grunted, straightening up her shoulders.

Slyde likewise forced his pleasant smile back onto his face as he said:

"Yes, I do believe they are. Have you placed any bets on anyone yet."

"No. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't." Una pouted angrily "the Trade Feds confiscated all my money when they took me captive."

"So they didn't pay you, and they took your money?" Slyde raised an eyebrow. "Yikes, no wonder you're so dedicated to this mission."

"You bet your wrinkled ass I am" Una snorted as they made their way to a doorway where Padme was waiting for them with Qui-Gon, Jar-Jar Binks lurking in the back trying not to touch or drop anything. The young teenaged queen's eyes were suspicious as she took in Slyde for the first time.

 _First that Trandoshan, now this Deveronian? Just who are these people? And can they be trusted?_

But before Padme could say a word, Slyde flashed a charming at her.

"My, my Little Una, I see you've picked up quite a charming new friend."

"Little Una? _Little_ Una?" Jar-Jar stared at Una, who rolled her eyes and sighed heavily.

"Slyde, this is Padme and Jar-Jar, Padme is a handmaid to my current employer and Jar-Jar is a Gungan we met on Naboo. Padme, Jar-Jar this is Slyde Crest my old captain, and legally, my old man as well."

"Your old man? You mean, he's your _father_?" Padme's big brown eyes widened as she looked between Una and Slyde, who's smirk widened as he gave her a mock bow.

"Adopted but yes. It's a pleasure to meet you, my lady. I do hope Little Una is looking after you well. Forgive me if my appearance startled you. It's not often we hunters get to work with those in the higher social classes. I'm afraid we often come across as rather rough and uncouth rascals, even when we endeavour to behave our best."

Padme blinked as she took in the humanoid's words. Where Una had the definite rough and blunt tones of a local of the outer rim, this Deveronian's accent was nearly just as refined as some of the core world government officials Padme had met during her rule in office.

She wondered whether he was faking it, yet as she looked into his yellow eyes, she knew at once that this was not a man pretending to have high-class. This was someone who had received proper education and upbringing, just as good as hers. Yet he had chosen to become a Bounty Hunter in one of the most abysmal quadrants of the galaxy?

"It is a pleasure to meet you too, sir." Padme gulped, blushing slightly as the Deveronian took her hand and politely bobbed his head down to it in a gentlemanly fashion. "And yes, Una has been of great service to my quee-I-I mean my employer. I, that is to say, I and the rest of our crew, are grateful for her assistance during these, especially troubling times."

"That's what I like to hear" Slyde glanced sidelong at Una. Una however only had eyes for the ceiling as if she wanted nothing more than to vanish into the woodwork from embarrassment.

Well, this was just perfect. She'd built up this excellent image for herself, and now here she was being treated like a kid right in front of her employers…again.

 _Gods I hope Anakin and Junior have better days than me._

She pouted to herself as they all made their way outside into the blistering heat. Slyde was quick to give another charming introduction to Shmi Skywalker, who smiled and bobbed her head politely though her attention was quickly pulled away by the sight of all the racers prepping themselves at the start line. She was quick to go and wish her son good luck, kissing his forehead for good measure much to his embarrassment.

"Mom" he grumbled as Una, Jar-Jar and Padme all grinned in amusement at him.

Taking advantage of their distraction, Slyde sidled across to Qui-Gon his charming smile faltering as he took in his old friend's solemn expression.

"Something is worrying you old friend?" he murmured so that only Qui-Gon could hear.

"I'm not sure" Qui-Gon muttered softly. "There's just something about this boy."

"Ah yes, your Force Sensitive pint-sized pod-racer?" Slyde smirked, and when Qui-Gon gave him a sharp look, he shrugged.

"Look there's no way a little boy like him could ever race in a pod unless he had Jedi reflexes. It's just impossible for humans at that age, or any age to be that good without some help from the Force."

"I suppose you're right." Qui-Gon glanced back at Slyde, then quickly at Una, who was still distracted by a procession of the racers down on the track.

"You adopted a force-sensitive youngling" he muttered, and Slyde nodded quietly.

"Yeah…though before you ask it's not like I had much choice at that point. When I found Una, she was already nearly seven years old. The Order would never have taken her in."

"So instead, you trained her secretly in our ways without telling her anything about what she is and what she is capable of?" Qui-Gon folded his arms into his poncho. "I take it she is also unaware of your past occupation?"

"Yes, and I'd rather it remains that way until the time is right."

"Unfortunately, you may not have that luxury." Qui-Gon pursed his lips, though his eyes were wells of sympathy for his old friend. "She has already agreed to divulge information on the Trade Federation to both the Jedi Council and the Republic. If you do plan on joining us, you will have to face the Council alongside her, and if the council questions you then you will have no choice but to tell them everything."

"I know, and I will. Only…" Slyde sighed and ran a hand over his bald copper-skinned head.

His revelation, however, was interrupted by the loud booming voice of the twin-headed alien commentator who had started his announcements

"-That's right. And a big turnout here from all corners of the outer rim territories. I see the contestants are making their way out onto the starting grid."

At this, the other twin head began to speak Huttese to the crowd, which started to cheer harder.

"Alright, this is it — time to get going. Good luck kiddo" Una muttered, ruffling Anakin's hair affectionately as Padme reached out to give him a bracing hug.

"Good luck Ani" she whispered, and Una smirked as the young boy flushed pink, mumbling his thanks before rushing off to help his friends pull his pod-racer onto the track.

"I think it's time for us to find our seats. Ladies?" Slyde offered his arm to Padme who accepted it gracefully. He tried to offer his arm to Una too but lowered it quickly as she scowled and marched off ahead.

"Don't worry your highness" Slyde smirked as he led Padme up to the base of their elevating platform. "My little Una acts tough, but she means well."

"Highness?" Padme blinked in alarm and Slyde chuckled.

"Young one, you might dress like a handmaid, but you still walk like a queen. You stick out like a flower blossoming in a desert."

"Am I so obvious?" Padme pouted, her queenly grace briefly giving way to reveal an exasperated adolescent.

"Only to those with a trained eye." Slyde smiled kindly "Don't worry. You have plenty of years ahead to refine your skills. I hear those in politics are wonderful actors."

 _Wonderful actors? There he goes putting on the charm again._

Una snorted, arms folded grumpily as she tried to position herself in a spot of shade. God, this heat was infuriating as was the prospect of having her old man hovering over her shoulder once again.

She loved the Deveronian dearly, but hadn't she proved time and time again that she was a good enough hunter to work a job alone?

She vaguely wondered if Obi-Wan had to deal with similar issues, being an apprentice Jedi. Then she remembered how relaxed Qui-Gon was with letting his padawan hold the fort with the ship. Granted Obi-Wan couldn't leave the ship, but at least he was trusted to keep it safe on his own.

Had the duty been split between Slyde and Una, the older bounty hunter would probably be checking in on Una constantly. As it stood, the Deveronian was always antsy whenever she went to go hunting alone.

She winced as something metallic flashed and twinkled in the sunlight someway in the distance.

 _What the?_

She squinted as she caught sight of Anakin's pod, beside which a rather ugly, motley skinned dug in racing gear, sneered wickedly as one of his limbs reached out to flick against the side of the pod.

 _What the hell-_

But she was interrupted as Qui-Gon, and Shmi Skywalker both walked onto the platform, blocking her view of the saboteur.

"How's the kid? Is he okay?" Slyde asked Qui-Gon who shrugged.

"He's nervous, but I have a feeling he'll be just fine. Shall we?"

He gestured, and once all of them were secure on the platform, it began to rise so that they stood overlooking the sandy start line.

Yet as they rose, Una only had eyes for a grand balcony set into the sand-coloured stands set on the other side of the track. Upon it, what looked like she could see with her sharp eyes, two giant dark-skinned slugs. The bigger of the two was now speaking to the crowd in deep guttural Huttese, welcoming them all to the race as was custom.

"Easy there Wildcat" Slyde murmured in her ear as he saw her gaze on the two Hutts harden and darken like daggers.

The look was not missed by Qui-Gon who could not ignore the flash of anger he felt coming from the woman through the force. She didn't just dislike the Hutts. She loathed them with all her being.

Though he could not blame her, Qui-Gon couldn't help but wonder what had those gangsters done to this young woman to warrant such hatred?

There was a hard slam of a gong, and all eyes turned to the start line where many racing pods had taken off. All save three.

Two of them were sputtering hunks of junk piloted by grubby aliens, the third one piloted by a tiny nine-year-old boy with sandy hair.

"Aw Kriffing hell" Una cursed.

"Looks like your little friend has trouble reaching the controls." Slyde glanced at Qui-Gon, but all could see his heart was not in the joke. Indeed his yellow eyes were just as worried as the Jedi's, who said:

"Something must have gone wrong with the pod before we got on the track-"

"But that can't be" Shmi Skywalker's eyes were wide with fear as she looked down at her child on the track. "Ani always checks everything in his pod at least three times before racing, and he's never had a problem before."

"Only because someone made a problem for him." Una growled, her nostrils flaring. That slimy Dug, dammit! She should have known better-

"You mean someone sabotaged him but isn't that against the... rules…" Padme trailed off as everyone; even Jar-Jar, raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh…right"

"Come on, Ani" Jar-Jar hissed down at the boy, who seemed to be pressing nearly all the buttons in his cockpit.

Una stared down at the boy's pod, her eyes skimming over the metallic orange and silver surface. That Dug had been close to the portside engine, somewhere along the middle-the middle.

 _An external fuel tank capacitor-he broke off the capacitor, and that's why it's stalling._

She thought wildly, her eyes fixed now upon the boy's head, which stiffened for a moment, before leaning forwards in his seat.

Then, there was the roar from the crowd as the two slim engines of the podracer began to glow red hot as they fired up ready for action.

"Well, looks like he's back on his feet now" Slyde grinned, though Una could see his body wasn't relaxed as Shmi pulled out an old holo-pad on which feed on the race's various tracking probes could be seen following the racers from above.

Many racers weren't faring well. Many of them fell behind the top five quickly, either because of poor driving or badly designed machines. However, amidst most of the crappy rabble, Una spotted soon that one or two of the more decent racers were struggling with their devices, which after one jostle from a competitor began to smoke and spark off violently.

So Anakin's hadn't been the only one that had been tampered with?

Una's lips pursed as she saw one of the sabotaged machines engines blow up and fly ten feet into the air, carrying their poor driver with them, before crashing down hard into the sand.

That unbearable hot sand…over which a dark shadow had flown over her head last night.

 _That spacecraft…I wonder what became of it?_

She tilted her head as she watched the screen in Shmi's hands. As she did, her eyes glazed over as the yellow and silver pod, watching it morph into a different much larger shape. She shook her head out to clear it, however when she looked up from the screen, she found herself, not at the racetrack, but on top of a barren rocky mesa.

Behind her over the edge of the Mesa's cliff, was a barren sandy landscape, scattered with small patches of paler stone. A closer look at these told her that these were the towns and settlements much like Mos Espa, for she could see the gleam of metal as individual ships flew in and out of the spaceports.

It would have been a beautiful sight, had it not been for a dark but small and sleek space craft gleaming in the hot afternoon sunlight in front of her. Before it, pacing up and down like a panther stalking in a cage was a man, or at least it was masculine and humanoid in shape. They wore all black, but she could see streaks of crimson, peeking out from under the hood of the dark robes.

He was impatient; he was hungry for action. But he needed to wait. He needed to be patient…let his prey make its way to him.

As a bounty hunter, Una understood the figure's frustration only too well. She had often been forced to keep quiet as she staked out planets and towns while searching for her own bounty's. Yet there was something about the way this figure walked that made her uneasy.

It was the way he prowled; hooded head bowed slightly, almost deferentially in prayer to some silent entity she could not see.

 _"Soon, my master. You shall have them soon."_

She shivered as she heard the voice. It was cold, menacing-a purr of a beast waiting to strike.

Oh, he was a hunter all right, but he did not seek out his prey for credits. He was in a whole league of his own.

But who was he? She wondered, body stiffening as she watched him finger something metal and cylindrical on his belt. Something that looked oddly like the hilt of a lightsabre.

Then suddenly he paused mid-step, his spine stiffening and his muscles all tense.

Una felt all the hair on the back of her neck stand on end as a deep, bone-numbing cold seeped into every fibre of her being. It was almost as if she were drowning in icy seas; even her breath was catching in her chest as the figure turned its head around.

"Una?" but Una didn't hear the voice at all. All she could see was a pair of fiery yellow eyes with red rings in the centre staring out at her hungrily across the golden sands, as a black and crimson streaked face sneered with victory.

 _Found you!_

The figure hissed inside her mind, and she saw a lip curl with a feral sort of pleasure.

"UNA! UNA LOOK! LOOK! We're Winning! Anakin's winning!"

Una blinked and just like that the cold figure was gone. She was still standing on the elevated platform at the racetrack. The platform itself was descending to the ground as the crowd all cheered ecstatically as someone crossed over the finish line — a little human boy in an orange podracer.

"Wait what-"

"We won!" Padme was beaming and squealing unabashedly with pride like the teenager she was. Behind her Jar-Jar Binks was bouncing up and down with glee. Shmi Skywalker was almost weeping with prideful joy as Slyde and Qui-Gon both ran off the platform to check on the pint-sized winner who was grinning in the cockpit, his whole helmeted head covered head to foot in desert dust.

He was cheering as a small crowd of locals reached out to swarm around him and Qui-Gon, who had helped pull him out of the speeder while Slyde did his best to keep the new crowd in a controllable group.

"This is amazing! I can't believe we won!" Padme's smile was radiant and brilliant as she shared a happy hug with Shmi beside her.

Una meanwhile was staring out into the distant desert, her heart hammering in her chest.

 _It's this heat and that injury. It's all too much for me and now I'm hallucinating. I just need to splash my face, drink some water and sleep and I'll be right as rain…_

Yet even as the thought crossed her mind, Una knew it was a crap excuse. But what else could explain what she saw? She had never seen this deadly pursuer till that moment.

 _It's Slyde, he's told me about that assassin, and now my imagination is running amok thinking about it. Bloody bastard._

However, even that felt like a feeble argument. No, what she saw had been so real-but how could it have been? She couldn't have seen someone so far away and yet also be so close that she could almost have touched them.

She was aware of her body following Shmi, Jar-Jar and Padme back onto the track to congratulate Anakin, but while she forced herself to smile and cheer along with everyone else, her heart was hammering in her chest like a wild trapped bird.

She didn't have a clue what was going on, but there was one thing she did know. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong, and if they didn't get up and leave this planet soon, they'd all be dead…or worse.


End file.
